1984 blunder costs Amazon $150,000

 

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By Reuters and Barry Collins

Posted on 5 Oct 2009 at 06:30

Amazon has paid $150,000 to settle a lawsuit that claimed the online retailer illegally deleted copies of George Orwell's 1984 from its Kindle eBook readers.

The lawsuit was initially filed by a student and a fellow Kindle buyer back in July, in the US District Court in Seattle. It claimed Amazon didn't have the right to delete digital content that had been purchased by consumers for use on their Kindles.

This summer, Amazon acknowledged it deleted certain purchased eBooks from the Kindles after learning that a third party who had posted the books didn't have the legal rights to do so. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos later apologised for the deletions, describing the matter as "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."

The settlement reveals that Amazon offered consumers whose books had been deleted a new free digital copy as well as $30. The reimbursement made it unlikely for a judge to certify a class-action, the plaintiffs claim in the settlement.

Under the terms of the settlement, Amazon will not delete such works in the future unless the consumer agrees, or unless a refund is requested or the work contains harmful embedded code that would hurt operation of the Kindle.

Amazon will pay the plaintiffs' lawyers a fee of $150,000 to be donated to "a charitable organisation that promotes literacy, children's issues, secondary or post- secondary education, health or job placement," according to the settlement.