The Authors Guild, Amazon Publishing, and Penguin Random House this week filed suit in federal court in Washington State seeking to enjoin a Ukraine-based piracy site called KISS library. The site, which operates under a number of different domain names using a “sophisticated” legitimate-looking site designed to deceive consumers, is said to sell illegally pirated e-books to U.S. readers.
The complaint asks that KISS Library and its operators be enjoined from illegally copying, distributing and selling works written or published by the plaintiffs.
“While the main culprits are the KISS Library websites and operators, it doesn’t help that sites devoted to e-book piracy are readily available through U.S. search engines,” Authors Guild president Douglas Preston said in a statement. “American authors and publishing companies have no recourse against these rogue foreign sites, other than through expensive federal litigation.”
Named plaintiff from the Authors Guild include its president Preston, and members Lee Child, Sylvia Day, John Grisham, C.J. Lyons, Jim Rasenberger, T.J. Stiles, R.L. Stine, Monique Truong, Scott Turow, Nicholas Weinstock, and Stuart Woods.
“Over the last several years, we have worked through various channels to curtail the proliferation of e-book piracy sites, but KISS Library has been a challenge since it is a particularly egregious criminal enterprise,” said Mary Rasenberger, executive director of the Authors Guild. “It sells highly commercial books and passes itself off as a legitimate site. Unlike authorized sites that pay for the books they sell, KISS Library keeps all the proceeds that it illegally obtains from American readers. Not a single penny goes to the authors or publishers that produce the books.”
