[announce] Kindle lawsuit reaches settlement

[Sharon Lovering]

For Immediate Release

 

Contact:

Mitch Pomerantz, President

American Council of the Blind

(626) 372-5150 (Cell)

mitch.pomerantz at earthlink.net

 

Chris Danielsen 

Director of Public Relations

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

cdanielsen at nfb.org

 

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

(202) 514-2007

 

Sharon Keeler

Arizona State University

(480) 965-4012 (Office)

(602) 540-8453 (Cell)

sharon.keeler at asu.edu

 

 

Blindness Organizations and Arizona State University

Resolve Litigation over Kindle

 

PHOENIX, January 11, 2010 - The American Council of the Blind (ACB), the
National Federation of the Blind (NFB), and Arizona State University (ASU),
today announced a settlement agreement resolving litigation filed by NFB and
ACB against the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) and ASU.  The lawsuit arose
from the university's participation in a pilot program using the Kindle DX,
a dedicated device for reading electronic books, or e-books, developed by
Amazon.com, Inc.  The NFB and ACB alleged that the Kindle DX was
inaccessible to blind students and thus violated federal law.  ABOR and ASU
denied and continue to deny any violations of the law. 

 

The settlement agreement among the parties was reached in light of several
factors, including: (1) ASU's commitment to providing access to all programs
and facilities for students with disabilities, including students who are
blind or have low vision; (2) the fact that the pilot program will end in
the spring of 2010; (3) Amazon and others are making improvements to and
progress in the accessibility of e-book readers; and (4) the university's
agreement that should ASU deploy e-book readers in future classes over the
next two years, it will strive to use devices that are accessible to the
blind.

 

The United States Department of Justice is also a party to the agreement,
which does not involve the payment of any damages or attorney's fees or
costs.

 

Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "The
National Federation of the Blind is pleased with this settlement, which we
believe will help to ensure that new technologies create new opportunities
for blind students rather than new barriers."

 

Mitch Pomerantz, President of the American Council of the Blind, expressed
support by commenting: "I believe this settlement between Arizona State
University and the two major national consumer-advocacy organizations of
blind and visually impaired persons will encourage the industry to develop
fully accessible e-book readers in the near future."

 

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