In a brand new proposed class motion lawsuit in opposition to Amazon [via The Hollywood Reporter], the corporate has been accused of “bait and change" (a sort of fraudulent exercise) on Prime Video. This implies they’re allegedly deceptive shoppers into pondering they’ve bought content material after they’re solely getting a license to look at, which will be revoked at any time if Amazon loses the rights to a title.
The potential lawsuit claims: "violations of California unfair competitors, false promoting and shopper authorized treatments legal guidelines. It seeks unspecified damages, together with disgorgement of earnings and punitive damages for allegedly deliberately malicious conduct." Filed in Washington federal courtroom on August 22 2025, the proposal claims that Amazon is "misrepresenting the character of film and TV transactions throughout the buy course of".
In case that's not clear, let's take the unwatched digital model of Conclave I 'purchased' on Prime Video so my mother and father didn't miss out on this 12 months's Oscar hype for example. I’ve a digital copy, but when Prime Video's licensing agreements had been to alter, so too might the model of Conclave I’ve entry to. If Amazon had been to not have the rights to the title, my mother and father would lose the film.
Because the criticism factors out, “you obtain a license to the video and also you comply with our phrases," that means that what you truly get for parting together with your cash is written within the small print. However ought to Prime Video be allowed to inform subscribers that they've "purchased" a film, and what does this imply for us customers in the long term?
Prime Video’s new class motion lawsuit proves we have to put money into extra bodily media
Earlier than we go any additional, let's not overlook that this isn't the primary lawsuit of this sort Prime Video has had in opposition to it. In 2020, a separate lawsuit alleged "unfair competitors and false promoting over the apply". Whereas Amazon has not but publicly commented on the brand new class motion, it claimed in 2020 that utilizing the phrase "purchase" isn't misleading to subscribers as a result of shoppers already perceive that their purchases is subjective to license agreements. 5 years later, and I'd say that possible isn't the case.
Again in 2023, a Californian legislature introduced the issue to the forefront once more. Avid gamers discovered that their entry to The Crew can be stopped after Ubisoft shut down the sport's servers, inspiring the 'Cease Killing Video games' motion that took goal at publishers destroying previously-bought shopper titles.
Nevertheless, it's modifications to Californian legislature this 12 months work to our new lawsuit's benefit. Primarily, a state regulation has barred the usage of the phrase 'buy' in a transaction except "it affords unrestricted possession of the product." Clearly, our Prime Video small print doesn't match into this, and Amazon can hardly afford to lose such an enormous revenue share as California (if it was its personal separate nation, California can be the fourth largest financial system on the earth).
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We don't but know what any of this implies for streamers with a Prime Video subscription on a wider degree, however to me, it's an extremely stark reminder that we have to preserve investing in bodily media as a lot as attainable. Sure, it's costlier than paying a flat charge each month for all of the content material you possibly can probably need. However it's like courting: when you turn into extra intentional in what you put money into, the outcomes are lifelong.
You probably have bodily copies of films and TV reveals that you just love, you possibly can by no means be parted from them, and it's the one means we will now assure the safety of what we purchase. Possibly it's time for one of the best streaming providers to revert to the great previous days of sending us discs within the submit to look at and return after we're accomplished with them, identical to Netflix did within the late 2000s.
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