On September 25th, Amazon settled a lawsuit filed in a Seattle court by 17-year-old Justin Gawronski over the online retail giant's July deletion of two works by author George Orwell—1984 and Animal Farm—from its customers' Kindles.

Gawronski, reading 1984 for school, had been making notes using the Kindle's keyboard, just as readers might make notes in the margins of a physical copy. The Michigan student found his notes useless, however, after Amazon remotely deleted 1984 from users' Kindles.

Amazon removed the two novels after discovering that MobileReference, electronic publisher of the two novels, held no rights to the works. The e-books were not only deleted for purchase and download, but also from the Kindles of those who had already purchased the digital versions of Orwell's novels.

Buyers received a refund and Amazon issued a statement that read, in part: "We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers’ devices in these circumstances." Critics claim, however, that Amazon's deletion of 1984 indicates the company's control over digital material—even after the point of purchase—infringes on the rights of consumers.

"Amazon has just proven that when I buy a book on the Kindle, I don't really own it," Gawronski told reporters when he filed his suit in July. "I just feel that is wrong."

According to the settlement, Amazon will pay $150,000 to Gawronski's lawyers. Firm KamberEdelson has said it will donate its proceeds from the case to charity.