- Recently, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Amazon in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
- The case was filed as Amazon has been allegedly misleading consumers about how a movie "purchase" works on the platform.
- While many fans believe they own a title when they purchase it on Amazon Prime, it is actually a revocable license.
If you think that you have currently purchased a movie on Prime Video, you’re living in a bubble. Recently, a class action lawsuit has been filed against the streaming service, alleging that it is misleading its subscribers. The lawsuit also states that when you buy a movie, you are not acquiring ownership of its copy, but rather paying for a license of the copy that can be revoked at any time.
Amazon Prime Video came under scrutiny initially in 2023, when several gamers discovered that they would no longer be able to access the online game The Crew whenever Ubisoft decides to shut down its servers. And now, it happened again when users realized that the streaming service had been misleading them during the TV shows and movies purchasing process.
The case was filed in the Washington federal court against Amazon. The case highlights the lack of clarity with which the subscription service offers movie purchases. Take DVDs, for example; when a user buys a DVD of a movie, they can watch it for as long as they want. Their ability to use the DVD doesn’t get impacted by licensing issues or web server issues.
However, when a user buys a movie on Amazon Prime, they can lose access to the film at any time. Take Tom Hanks’ Greyhound, for example. You can buy that movie for about $14.99 on Prime Video. And if you are buying it, you should have access to that movie for life, right? Well, not exactly. If there’s a licensing issue between Prime Video and the production house of Greyhound, the movie will simply disappear from your library.
For the unacquainted, this is not the first time Amazon Prime Video has been entangled in a situation like this, as the issue has been before the court since 2020. However, at that time, the company claimed that consumers are well-versed with the fact that when they pay for a movie or a TV Show, they get a license to watch it for a limited time.
Regardless, Amazon is under fire once again for the same issue that was raised in 2020. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Wright Noel, a consumer lawyer who is suing the company, states:
” [Amazon] does not meet the standards set by the statute for a clear and conspicuous notice that the thing they are purchasing is a revocable license to access the digital good.” Of course, Wright acknowledges that Amazon gives a warning about the revocable license, but the text used for that warning is at the “bottom of the screen.”
It’s definitely a tricky situation for Amazon, but the company has yet to give an official response. But we can surely expect a reply sooner rather than later.
