Teen Wins $150k In Amazon Kindle Lawsuit

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Remember the kid that lost his homework after Amazon deleted that George Orwell book from users' Kindles earlier this year? Well, he sued.... and won.

So Gawronski, 17, sued in federal court in Seattle, contending that Amazon hadn't notified him that it could eliminate from his Kindle e-books that he had purchased. He was represented by attorney Jay Edelson of KamberEdelson. Now the Internet giant has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle his proposed class action.
 
He won't get anywhere near the $150k, but will still take home a good bounty.
 
It's a good lesson for Amazon that their Big Brother-like tactics can and will backfire on them :)
 
In the kids case, there was damage to his homework, I don't think it was $150K worth of damage though. They settled to prevent a class action suit that is all.
 
... wow. people sue for lost homework now-a-days? I understand that what Amazon did wasn't appropriate, but still, people sued them for it?
 
and who is to say that the "homework" even ever existed in the afore mentioned kindle?
 
... wow. people sue for lost homework now-a-days? I understand that what Amazon did wasn't appropriate, but still, people sued them for it?
People will sue for anything. This case perfectly exemplifies why.
 
Wow. Kid is pretty lucky. He just won free college and a house.

Where do you live that you could get college and a house for $150,000?

I spent $100,000 on college so that would leave $50,000. I couldn't touch a house for less than $100,000 and that is a cheap one. Most area would run you a lot more than that small amount. So at best that would give me free college and a down payment for a house.

Not only that but the article states that the money will go to the lawyers that will be donatiing some of it to charity. So actually that sounds like the teen gets nothing.
 
Dang, when I think back on all the times I could have sued my dog for eating my homework . . .
Did/does your dog poop gold? Or could it turn homework into money?


The Kindle didn't exactly eat his homework. It ate his notes on the text. Once the text was removed, his notes had no context. Not sure why he couldn't buy a copy of the book and try to piece his notes together, but this outcome is way better.
 
People will sue for anything because there is allways a company willing to settle before its "image is demaged".

If Amazon took the kid all way throuh court, with very heavy legal expenses the outcome could be different.
 
Wow... I knew he was going to win because Amazon was clearly int he wrong...

But what fucking crackhead gave him $150k?!!? $500? Sure. $1,000? Meh, why not. $150k?!!? WTF?!
 
'Eh, I think plenty of people love Amazon. Only people with Kindles might frown upon them had it gone to court. I honestly don't care about the matter. I have Amazon Prime and it's awesome. Plus Amazon CS always comes through.

In fact, I ordered something Sunday evening that I needed by Wednesday. The free two-day shipping is usually next-day for me if I order early enough. Sure enough, the tracking number I got on Monday estimated a Tuesday delivery. On Tuesday, Tracking still showed "Billing Information Received." I was blaming UPS. Turns out UPS didn't even get the package until Wednesday, and it was delivered yesterday. I told Amazon, and they immediately refunded my money, and I'm returning my order because I don't need it now that Wednesday has passed.
 
Yes, let make it illegal to sue big companies. We can always trust them to never screw a customer.
 
Where do you live that you could get college and a house for $150,000?

I spent $100,000 on college so that would leave $50,000. I couldn't touch a house for less than $100,000 and that is a cheap one. Most area would run you a lot more than that small amount. So at best that would give me free college and a down payment for a house.

Not only that but the article states that the money will go to the lawyers that will be donatiing some of it to charity. So actually that sounds like the teen gets nothing.

I built my own house for $135k using my uncle who is a carpenter to frame the house ;-)

But yeah, that leaves me with $15k which isn't enough for college. What the hey, I graduated from college in '93 anyways. I'd throw the $15k to knock down my car payments I still owe $18k on.
 
Did/does your dog poop gold? Or could it turn homework into money?


The Kindle didn't exactly eat his homework. It ate his notes on the text. Once the text was removed, his notes had no context. Not sure why he couldn't buy a copy of the book and try to piece his notes together, but this outcome is way better.

Usually homework is time sensitive. Plus, don't kindle books do pages in a different way? As in, there's no page numbers? That would make it really, really difficult to match the notes back up.

Wow... I knew he was going to win because Amazon was clearly int he wrong...

But what fucking crackhead gave him $150k?!!? $500? Sure. $1,000? Meh, why not. $150k?!!? WTF?!

Gotta send a message, or else they'll just keep doing it.

Also, it seems that the law firm is donating at least some of its fee to charity.
 
Where do you live that you could get college and a house for $150,000?

I spent $100,000 on college so that would leave $50,000.

Well, of course it depends on what school he goes to, and what he goes to school for. But, $40k for a Bachelors isn't unreasonable at all. Here in DFW, Texas $100,000 buys a damn nice house.
 
If the kid sees even $500 of that money, I'll be amazed.

I got a letter in the mail a couple of weeks ago. Apparently there had been a class action lawsuit against a company I owned a few shares of back in the 90s. They had settled for around $580 million dollars. The stockholders were going to split $750 thousand and the rest was going to the law firm. According to my calculations, I'm going to receive 1/3 of a penny. :rolleyes:
 
Well, of course it depends on what school he goes to, and what he goes to school for. But, $40k for a Bachelors isn't unreasonable at all. Here in DFW, Texas $100,000 buys a damn nice house.

More like the kid is getting nothing.

3. As Amazon offered on September 3, 2009 to users of Devices who purchased a copy of a
Subject Work, and from whose Devices Amazon removed the Subject Work, such users may
elect to receive the previously purchased Subject Work, at no charge, or, alternatively, to receive
a check or an Amazon gift card in the amount of thirty dollars ($30.00). Those who elect to
receive the previously purchased Subject Work will have any and all annotations or notes made
prior to removal of the Subject Work restored automatically.

FTFA.
It says that the $150,000 will go to KamberEdelson, which will donate some of the money to charity.

Sounds like all of it is going to the lawyers.
 
Where do you live that you could get college and a house for $150,000?

I spent $100,000 on college so that would leave $50,000. I couldn't touch a house for less than $100,000 and that is a cheap one. Most area would run you a lot more than that small amount. So at best that would give me free college and a down payment for a house.

Not only that but the article states that the money will go to the lawyers that will be donatiing some of it to charity. So actually that sounds like the teen gets nothing.

Especially in Seattle, you can buy a condo way out in the suburbs maybe. For a small house that isn't about to fall apart you are looking low to mid 200s and most decent houses in good neighborhoods are 500+
 
The lawyer got all the money, and is donating "some".

Fucking kid, use a pencil and a piece of paper, hand in your work on time.
Sit down and shut the fuck up.

150,000 is chump change for Amazon, but still is ridiculous. A simple apology should have been sufficient. People are absolutely sue happy in this country and it's going to ruin us.
 
I suppose everyone should be submissive and docile when getting fucked by a business?

This isn't one of those frivolous lawsuits that resulted from a person's own stupidity; it was a direct result of Amazon's wrongdoing. Maybe the reward was excessive but the kid had every right to sue.

On the other hand, you have to wonder why this kid thought that his high school assignment was worth the trouble. If it were me, I would've been pissed but not nearly enough to sue; a high school assignment is not worth the trouble. Was the kid in it for the money (foolish as that may be considering he's hardly getting a dime) or maybe he wanted to act like a crusader of justice?
 
This is not about how much the kid is getting, it's about how much Amazon is losing. Consumers need to show Amazon that if they continue with terrible business practices, their wallets will be hurting. A mere $1000 would not be enough to sway Amazon. $150,000 might not even be enough.
 
I think those of you calling the reward "excessive" should try reading the settlement agreement. The award does not just apply to that kid, it also applies to all similarly situated users. Meaning that's not just what Amazon is paying to get that one kid to go away, it's what Amazon is paying to put the issue to bed entirely.

Also, it looks like the kid isn't going to get anything out of it. Filing a lawsuit in federal court isn't cheap, and neither is getting lawyers who can actually win in federal court. They probably didn't "profit" much off of this case considering the small settlement.
 
I suppose everyone should be submissive and docile when getting fucked by a business?

This isn't one of those frivolous lawsuits that resulted from a person's own stupidity; it was a direct result of Amazon's wrongdoing. Maybe the reward was excessive but the kid had every right to sue.

On the other hand, you have to wonder why this kid thought that his high school assignment was worth the trouble. If it were me, I would've been pissed but not nearly enough to sue; a high school assignment is not worth the trouble. Was the kid in it for the money (foolish as that may be considering he's hardly getting a dime) or maybe he wanted to act like a crusader of justice?

The kid probably wants to go to law school and this will look good on his resume.
 
150K is way overkill
I assume he's in highschool, $5K in my hands is a more than reasonable trade off to losing some bs high school homework assignment
 
It is sad that so many people still have no clue what this case was about.
 
Oh, and incase anyone is actually reading this thread instead of just posting their uninformed opinions, here is the important meaningful results of the lawsuit. Frankly, everyone who owns a kindle owes this "kid" a debt of gratitude.

Amazon will not remotely delete or modify such Works from Devices purchased and being used in the United States unless (a) the user consents to such deletion or modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work (e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to a Device).
 
Oh, and incase anyone is actually reading this thread instead of just posting their uninformed opinions, here is the important meaningful results of the lawsuit. Frankly, everyone who owns a kindle owes this "kid" a debt of gratitude.

Exactly. It is about Amazon deleting content off the user's devices without consent. I doubt the kid got much money out of it. Class actions rarely gets the individuals much.
 
Oh, and incase anyone is actually reading this thread instead of just posting their uninformed opinions, here is the important meaningful results of the lawsuit. Frankly, everyone who owns a kindle owes this "kid" a debt of gratitude.

Thank you for quoting the relevant sections :)

There's been rumours that other works on Kindles have been remotely modified (some Stephen King book for one). The power Amazon has to delete or modify at will what is stored on anyone's Kindle is to most a disturbing thought. What this case does is show to Amazon and to others that such behaviour, such power will be subject to the utmost criticism, and that doing so without consent is intolerable.

As the US 'justice' system has no requirement to pay any fees to the winning party, and as this was a settlement as well, this lawsuit cost the boy and his supporters at least a few 10,000 dollars. He wasn't in it for the money, but to show what is right, to stand up and declare that Amazon or any other company does not have the right to modify or delete the products someone bought from them at will.

What Amazon has done was akin to a book store walking into your house, taking a book you bought from them before and walking out with it. Even if they did leave the money you paid for it behind, you would still be pissed, both because of the privacy aspect, and because you wanted the product, not the money.
 
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