Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Georgia

(Next time do not include your name or e-mail in the posting.)

If you in fact hold the copyright, have an intellectual property attorney send Amazon a cease and desist letter.

If you would like to discuss any issues further, please feel free to contact my office. The link to my contact information is below. Thank you.

The foregoing is general information only, not specific legal advice. No attorney/client relation has been created or should be implied.

You have learned (sadly) a lesson. See a lawyer before you do anything involving a book.

The answer is that you probably signed your rights away. Looking at the terms of service on their website, and you agreed to them (and should have read them), you agreed as follows:

"The Website permits you and other users to submit Manuscripts and provides for the hosting and/or publishing of such Manuscripts. By submitting a Manuscript, you hereby grant the Company and its affiliates and sublicensees a worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable right to (and the right to grant others the right to) use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, display, publicly and digitally perform the Manuscript in any media formats and through any media channels. For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your Manuscript. You grant Company and its affiliates and sublicensees the right to use your name and the Manuscript title in connection with the advertisement, promotion, distribution and sale of the Manuscript and in connection with the advertisement and promotion of Company and its affiliates and sublicensees and the Website."

Assuming that the company assigned your book to Amazon, you agreed to that.

However, if Amazon on its own grabbed your book from the site without permission you might have a case and need to see an IP lawyer.