Tata Group’s publisher Westland has raised an undisclosed amount of money from Amazon.com, the company announced in a press statement. The Hindu reports that Amazon has picked up a 26% stake in Westland for an investment of approximately Rs 9.5 crore. Westland will expand its international reach and scale its physical and digital book business. Gautam Padmanabhan, CEO of Westland said, “... Amazon's roots are in books and they remain a major part of their business – this investment from a company with such deep experience in books, global reach and exciting digital platforms will help us take our Indian authors and their works globally.” While Sarah Jane Gunter, Director of Amazon Publishing, said, “... Our investment in Westland continues Amazon's commitment to innovating and investing heavily on behalf of customers in India – it’s still very much Day One.” Westland-Flipkart tussle In July 2015, Westland took Flipkart to the Delhi High Court alleging that Flipkart was violating copyrights and the IT Act by selling Amish Tripathi’s novel Scion of Ikshvaku on its platform. Westland claimed that it signed a 2 month exclusive deal with Amazon to sell the book via Amazon. The Delhi High Court heard the matter and has asked Flipkart to respond by 4 August then, and there has not been an update on the matter since. However, Flipkart still lists Westland Store on its platform and appears to be selling books from Amish Tripathi. Related read: SpicyIP’s: Westland v. Flipkart – Online Marketplaces and Questions of…
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