SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) – Amazon Digital Services has submitted a request to the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington for confirmation of an arbitration award against Nilmer Rubio, a Filipino man who the company alleges abused the Kindle platform to increase reviews and royalties on a number of ebooks.
In 2017, Amazon filed claims against Rubio over allegations he tried to “manipulate and abuse the Kindle Direct Publishing service for financial gain and to the detriment of KDP authors” and that a breach of both Kindle Store and Amazon terms of use were violated as a result, Amazon's petition to confirm the arbitration award states.
In Amazon's demand for arbitration filed in September 2017, it alleged Rubio "proposed to authors that he can artificially inflate their page reads in return for a share of their additional profits - as a kickback."
Christopher Keay, who was appointed by the American Arbitration Association to serve as the arbitrator regarding this case, requested nearly $27,000 from Rubio in his final award filed in May 2018.
Amazon, in its own petition to confirm the award filed May 13, argued that “despite repeated adequate notice,” throughout the arbitration proceedings, Rubio and any counsel he may have been duly represented by failed to appear for the deliberations.
Under the policies of the Federal Arbitration Act, it claims that when taking into consideration Rubio’s reluctance to challenge the award request, it is entitled to such claims.
Amazon also requested the court to enter judgment in favor of the company against Rubio regarding the original lawsuit.
The lawsuit is one of many Amazon has filed regarding this specific issue, in which users of the Kindle service allegedly posted fake reviews and used "click farming" to artificially boost publisher ratings and general profits.
Amazon is represented by John A. Goldmark and Benjamin J. Robbins of Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle, Washington.