[Web4lib] Amazon Deletes Orwell from Kindles

[Robert L. Balliot]

A Cease and Desist letter comes from the copyright owner.
An injunction comes from the courts.

The Cease and Desist letter from the copyright owner is
like a timestamp -

From:
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5139862_penalties-violating-copyright-laws.html

" If infringement was willful (e.g., took place after an injunctive order
was issued or "cease and desist" letter sent to an accused infringer by a
copyright holder), willful infringement occurs. Statutory damages of up to
$150,000 may be awarded for willful infringement."

My copyrighted work from 1997 'How to Search the World Wide Web' was
plagiarized and used as a masters thesis in 2000 by a student in the UK. The
author information was switched for that of the violator.  The University
liked it so much, they posted it on their website as an example of some
of the work being done at their institution and a methodology to use for
conducting internet research. 

Ironic to post a plagiarized work of someone who searches the internet - of
course, I found it.  

I sent them a letter, they removed it and apologized profusely.

*************************************************
Robert L. Balliot
Skype: RBalliot
Bristol, Rhode Island
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
*************************************************
-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Dowling
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 10:59 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Amazon Deletes Orwell from Kindles

On 07/21/2009 10:00 AM, Robert L. Balliot wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> It seems that a cease and desist notification would take precedence
> over 'Terms of Service' for customers.  Neither the seller nor
> buyers had a right to the works. The penalties can be very severe. 
> 

Since Amazon's own later reaction was, "...in the future we will not remove
books from customers' devices in these circumstances," they clearly have
some
legal wiggle room.  Do we know if there was in fact a Cease and Desist order
involved?  The NYTimes only says the publisher "notified" Amazon.

Regardless, Amazon has to acknowledge their responsibilities to their
customers
in addtion to their legal responsibilities, especially since they're trying
to
build e-books in general and Kindle in particular as a viable consumer
platform.  I would expect the process to be: 1) Amazon clearly explains the
problem to their customers, apologizing and offering reimbursement, credit,
or
a discount toward licensed copies; 2) Amazon describes the steps they're
taking
to prevent anything similar from happening in the future; 3) Amazon removes
content from people's Kindles.  In other words, "We screwed up, here's how
we're making things as right as possible, and here's why you can trust this
won't happen in the future."

Instead, we have: 1) Amazon removes content; 2) Amazon appears surprised and
confused when people both notice and complain; 3) Amazon scurries for PR
cover.
 And this is a company only three months removed from the whole "How come
Amazon deleted sales rankings of all gay-themed books?" fiasco, where a
major
contributing factor was Amazon's lack of transparency about what really
happened.  If they haven't learned the value of honest communication in
customer relationships, what's going to do it for them?



-- 
Thomas Dowling
tdowling at ohiolink.edu


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