File this in the truth is stranger than fiction folder. A 17-year-old student Thursday brought a class-action lawsuit in U.S. Western District Court in Seattle against Amazon because he wasn't able to complete a summer school homework assignment after two George Orwell titles were deleted from his Kindle.
The book brouhaha began two weeks ago when Amazon deleted Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm" from its Kindle e-readers and did not notify customers. The book retailer said it yanked the titles after discovering that a book-seller subcontractor did not have copyright permission.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos issued a public apology, which was acknowledged by lawyers for the student, Justin Gawronski of Michigan. However, the lawyers said that when Amazon deleted "1984" from his Kindle, his accompanying "rendered" electronic notes became "worthless."
"We appreciate Amazon.com's newfound contrition, but words are not enough," Jay Edelson, the lead attorney for the class action, said in a press release issued by a public-relations firm named, appropriately enough, The Publicity Agency.
The suit also said that the boy was forced to "expend further resources and effort in order to re-create their now useless work-product. Plaintiffs and 'Big Brother class members' suffered damages even though Amazon refunded the cost of the purchased content to Plaintiff and Big Brother Class members."
The teen's law firm, KamberEdelson, said it is seeking injunctive relief barring Amazon from improperly accessing Kindles in the future.
Not surprisingly, the suit seeks monetary relief for those who lost work-product associated with the deleted books. But don't worry, the law firm has agreed to donate any money it receives from this suit to a charity, "assuming that Amazon.com abides by its latest promise to take quick action to remedy this situation."
Too bad I didn't have a Kindle back in my school days. All I had to blame was myself.
