A group of best-selling authors, including some who previously fought Amazon over digital book pricing, are now teaming up with the tech giant in a new lawsuit that aims to bring down an alleged counterfeit e-book publishing site described as “the biggest pirate book site the world has ever seen.”
John Grisham, Scott Turow, R.L. Stine, Sylvia Day, and other top American authors are named as plaintiffs in the suit, along with Amazon and publisher Penguin Random House. The complaint was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle against the operators of Kiss Library and affiliated websites.
The plaintiffs claim that Kiss Library and related mirror websites sold unauthorized ebooks at discounted prices as they displayed, reproduced, sold, and distributed copyrighted works without permission. The lawsuit surfaces various examples of authors who have called out the defendants:
PIRATED BOOKS! – Beware of Kiss Library/Kissly https://t.co/zStpWI6qCW I just found one of mine on this site being sold for twice the price…
— Bev Spicer Novelist (@BevSpicer1) September 19, 2019
Just found a pirated copy of my amazon kindle book on #kisslibrary and they are selling it for like $7 after I put it up for free. Checked my #amazon account, and it had been flagged for copyright. Wow. Looks like it’ll be on #fictionpress for the rest of my life. pic.twitter.com/UYYAwLJ37k
— Bugsy Potter (@Bugsy_Potter) August 14, 2019
The lawsuit also notes that the “economic harm caused by Defendants’ digital piracy has been compounded during the COVID-19 pandemic — when readers are quarantined to their homes and increasingly reliant on ebooks.”
The plaintiffs request that the court disable all Kiss Library-related websites and that the defendants return all profits made off the alleged illegal sales.
Some of the same authors partnering with Amazon in the lawsuit were part of a group of more than 900 writers who publicly lambasted Amazon’s negotiating tactics during a ebook pricing and profit margin dispute with Hachette back in 2014. Amazon eventually reached an agreement with Hachette later that year.
Other authors listed on the lawsuit against Kiss Library include Lee Child, Sylvia Day, C.J. Lyons, Doug Preston, Jim Rasenberger, T.J. Stiles, Monique Truong, Nicholas Weinstock, and Stuart Woods.
We’ve reached out to Amazon for comment and will update this story when we hear back.
The lawsuit the latest in a series of actions from Amazon against illegal activity. Last month it filed lawsuits in three states to stop fraudulent affiliate marketing schemes driven by email campaigns purporting to come from the Seattle e-commerce giant.
Amazon also last month formed an internal “Counterfeit Crimes Unit” to bolster its fight against knock-off products on Amazon.com, as the company seeks to show customers, legislators and legitimate retailers that it’s tough on e-commerce crime.
In addition, Amazon’s Project Zero initiative has the goal of eliminating counterfeit goods on Amazon.com. Other Amazon initiatives include Transparency, which promises to eliminate counterfeits for enrolled products. Last month, Amazon joined with Valentino to sue an alleged counterfeiter of the Italian luxury fashion brand’s Rockstud shoes.
See the full lawsuit below.
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