Two Kindle users – one of them a high school student – have filed a class-action lawsuit against Amazon after the company remotely deleted copies of George Orwell's "1984" from their e-readers.
Justin Gawronski, a teenager from Michigan, and Antoine Bruguier of California, sued the online retailer in Seattle District Court on Thursday for breach of contract, intentional interference with their belongings, as well as violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Washington Consumer Protection Act.
In late July, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apologized to Kindle users after the company deleted Orwell's books from its Web site and users' Kindles without notice. Amazon did not have the rights to distribute Orwell's books, but it did not immediately reveal this fact to Kindle users who complained about the deletions.
"Our 'solution' to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles," Bezos wrote to customers. "It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission."
That apology apparently did not sit well with Gawronski and Bruguier.
Gawronski, a Kindle 2 owner, purchased "1984" in June as part of his summer reading requirements for high school English. After reading about the deletions in the news, he powered up his Kindle on July 20 and watched "1984" vanish.
His lawyers contend that in addition to losing the book itself, Gawronski also lost valuable notes. Though Amazon maintained users' notes on the book in a separate file that is still accessible, comments like "remember this paragraph for your thesis" are not helpful when you do not know what paragraph it is referencing, the suit said.
Bruguier, meanwhile, bought "1984" in April. On July 16, he received an e-mail confirming his refund for the book and, later the same day, an e-mail from Amazon that said the company had discovered a problem with the book and was issuing a refund. When Bruguier complained that he wanted to keep the book, Amazon said in a July 17 e-mail that it could not provide any insight on the deletion. Later that day, Amazon admitted in another e-mail that it pulled the book because of licensing issues.
The lawsuit contends that deleting content remotely from Kindles is a breach of contract and violation of Amazon's terms of service, which says that Kindle users have a right to keep a permanent copy of the digital content they purchase, and view it as many times as they want.
The suit contends that the Kindle is protected as a computer because it is used for interstate commerce and communication. When they remotely deleted content, Amazon accessed customers' Kindles without permission, a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and a violation of privacy.
"Unless restrained and enjoined, Amazon will continue to commit such acts," the suit said.
The practice violates Washington state's consumer protection statute, which bans unfair and deceptive acts and practices, the suit said.
Meanwhile, Amazon caused intentional interference – or trespass to chattels – to private property. "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," the suit said.
Gawronski and Bruguier have suffered harm because they are now forced to find another copy of the book, which will likely cost more than the $0.99 and $3.20 they paid for "1984," respectively, according to their lawyers.
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