Amazon/BookSurge
Antitrust Lawsuit
Campaign
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News Release
July 7, 2008
Small Publishers Association
of North America (SPAN)
1618 West Colorado Avenue
Colorado Springs, CO 80904
719-475-1726
www.spannet.org
Contact: Scott Flora, Executive Director
scottflora@spannet.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Amazon Throws its Weight Around,
Book Publishers Push Back
Association rallies independent publishers
to support lawsuit against business giant
Colorado Springs, CO, July 7, 2008 — The Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN), a national trade association dedicated to advancing the interests of independent publishers, launched a campaign to generate support for the class action lawsuit Booklocker.com, Inc. vs. Amazon.com, Inc. The SPAN board recently voted to publicly support the lawsuit.
Booklocker.com, Inc., initiated the class action antitrust lawsuit to challenge the legality of Amazon’s new policy requiring print on demand (POD) publishers using the company’s distribution services to print their books using Amazon’s subsidiary BookSurge. The lawsuit states that Amazon is illegally tying the BookSurge printing to Amazon’s distribution services. According to antitrust law, companies generally cannot require a customer to buy one product in order to have access to another distinct product.
Through its campaign, SPAN aims to generate significant public pressure to compel Amazon to reverse its new policy. The campaign is built on two objectives:
- To collect 10,000 signatures on a petition that will be sent to Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon
- To unite 100+ writer and publisher organizations in opposing the policy and supporting the lawsuit
“From the public outcry over the announcement of Amazon’s new POD policy, we have an army of enthusiastic writers and publishers ready for the next step in getting Amazon to change its policy,” said SPAN Executive Director, Scott Flora. “This campaign is the next step.”
SPAN’s campaign is creating support in five primary ways: uniting voices through the petition; writing letters to Amazon; recruiting other organizations; generating press coverage; and passing the word along friends and colleagues.
About SPAN — SPAN is a nonprofit trade association of independent book publishers with more than 1,000 members. The association provides support to authors and independent book publishers through industry news, business benefits, education, and marketing opportunities.
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For more information about the SPAN campaign and the lawsuit against Amazon visit www.spannet.org/amazonantitrust-home.htm.
To schedule an interview with Scott Flora, please contact Lisa Gilman at 719-475-1726 or lisa@spannet.org.
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