Amazon.com caused a stir a few months ago when it remotely deleted copies of George Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm" from people's Kindles. A Michigan high school student, Justin Gawronski, was so incensed that he sued the online retailer, alleging that Amazon essentially ate his homework when it removed his copy of "1984" and caused his "copious notes" to disappear. Now Amazon has settled the lawsuit with Gawronski and a co-plaintiff. As part of the deal, which awaits court approval, Amazon said it "will not remotely delete or modify" works on Kindles, with some exceptions.

Here's an excerpt from the settlement document (pdf, 9 pages) which was filed Sept. 25 in U.S. District Court in Seattle and just unearthed by TechFlash:

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).

As part of the settlement, Amazon will pay a fee of $150,000 to the plaintiff's lawyers, and the plaintiff's lead law firm KamberEdelson LLC will donate its portion of that fee to charity.

Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener had no comment. Attorney Michael Aschenbrener of KamberEdelson, who represents Gawronski and the other plaintiff, Antoine Bruguier, called it a "great settlement."

"It provides protection for Kindle users and provides confidence to them that the books, newspapers and magazines they purchase will not be subject to remote deletion by Amazon," Aschenbrener said. "It sends a message to digital media purveyors of all kinds that sellers really need to respect users' rights to that content."

Amazon has indicated the deleted Orwell books were unauthorized editions, but CEO Jeff Bezos earlier made an online apology about the deletions, calling the move "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles." The company this month offered to restore copies of the deleted novels to affected Kindles -- or give customers a $30 check or gift certificate.

The Gawronski lawsuit had been seeking class action status, so by settling, Amazon makes a possibly painful legal situation go away. Will Amazon's actions quell the debate it stirred up over control and ownership of digital books?

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