Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Mobile
    • Small Business

    Kindle Owners Sue Amazon over Blocked Books

    By
    Nathan Eddy
    -
    August 3, 2009
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Two owners of Amazon’s e-reader, the Kindle, are suing the company for breach of contract, intentional interference with their belongings and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Washington Consumer Protection Act.

      Antoine Bruguier of California and teenage Michigan resident Justin Gawronski filed the suit in Seattle District Court last Thursday. Both lawsuits concern the deletion of George Orwell’s dystopian classic “1984”. Gawronski, who had been reading the novel for a high school English class, woke up one morning to discover his digital copy of the book-and the notes he had taken on it, had vanished from his Kindle. Despite the existence of a second file Amazon keeps to ensure notes aren’t lost, the lawsuit alleges if the text of the book referenced in the notes has disappeared, the notes can be rendered useless.

      “Amazon has no more right to delete e-books from consumers’ Kindles and iPhones than it does to retrieve from its customers’ homes paper books it sells and ships to consumers,” Bruguier’s lawyers argued in the suit, which is alleging breach of contract and a violation of Amazon’s terms of service. “Unless restrained and enjoined, Amazon will continue to commit such acts.”

      Around July 16, Kindle users realized that copies of “Animal Farm” and “1984” had disappeared from their e-readers’ archived items library. Around the same time, an e-mail from Amazon.com refunding the purchase price for the books appeared in users’ in-boxes.

      As chatter online erupted, with many commenting on the irony of the online retailer pulling a book that dealt with themes of totalitarian control and Big Brother, Amazon.com issued a statement on July 17 stating that the works by Orwell had been pulled because the Kindle publisher did not own the rights.

      “When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” Drew Herdener, a spokesperson with Amazon.com, told The New York Times at the time. With the furor failing to subside, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos publicly apologized for Amazon’s actions.

      “This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of ‘1984’ and other novels on Kindle,” Bezos wrote in a July 23 community-forum posting on Amazon’s Kindle site. “Our ‘solution’ to the problem was stupid, thoughtless and painfully out of line with our principles.

      “It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received,” the note concluded. “We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.”

      Amazon has been spending a great deal of time and energy promoting its line of Kindle products, which includes a larger-format version, the Kindle DX, which is being targeted toward students and fans of newspapers and large-format documents. More than any other company, Amazon has been most seriously striving to reach the dominant position in the potentially lucrative e-reader market, which could earn the retailer billions of dollars in coming years. Doug Anmuth of Barclays Capital recently estimated that the device could earn Amazon $1.2 billion in sales in 2010 and $3.7 billion in 2012.

      However, Amazon also faces increased competition, including products from Sony and an e-reader from startup Plastic Logic that will be released in early 2010 and utilize AT&T’s 3G network to download documents and books wirelessly. Plastic Logic, however, is angling itself more to capitalize on the mobile business professionals segment, emphasizing the device’s ability to download and display Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents.

      Nathan Eddy
      A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Nathan was perviously the editor of gaming industry newsletter FierceGameBiz and has written for various consumer and tech publications including Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, CRN, and The Times of London. Currently based in Berlin, he released his first documentary film, The Absent Column, in 2013.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×