Amazon settles with Kindle users in ‘1984’ case

Amazon has settled a lawsuit over the erasure of two books written by George Orwell from the Kindle e-reader. Two students, who saw their e-books disappear, took Amazon to court over this action.

Amazon offered George Orwell’s books “1984” and “Animal Farm” through its online store, assuming they were out of copyright. In July, the company found out that wasn’t the case after all and decided to remotely erase the books from the Kindle readers of customers who had purchased the e-books. The buyers got their money back, but the fact that Amazon was able to erase e-books once purchased caused a lot of fuss.

American students Justin Gawronski and Anton Bruguier were not satisfied with this and filed a lawsuit against Amazon. This case has since been settled with a settlement. Amazon will pay the couple’s lawyers $150,000; they have already promised to donate this amount to a good cause. How much the complainants will receive has not been disclosed, reports PC World.

Amazon has also committed to never again erase eBooks from users except in a limited number of cases: when ordered by a judge or government agency, when malware must be removed, and if the consumer consents or does not pay.