The fight against labeling long-term streaming rentals as “purchases” you “buy”

Summary

Reingold's complaint acknowledges that Prime Video shows relevant fine print below its "buy" buttons but says that the notice is “far below the ‘buy movie’ button, buried at the very bottom” of the page and is not visible until “the very last stage of the transaction,” after a user has already clicked “buy.” “This 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,” the complaint reads. Speaking about the case with Ars Technica, Danny Karon, a consumer attorney who has taught class-action litigation at the University of Michigan Law School and Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, said: … Amazon is sure to argue that, never mind its ‘buy’ or ‘purchase’ language, the rest of the story was described (or buried) in its terms and conditions. If plaintiff didn’t want to read her contract, including the small print, that’s on her. The plaintiffs will be challenged to prove that Amazon's communication was ineffective and inaccurate. "One has to prove that when they bought the movie, they were given indication that they 'owned it' in perpetuity and that they were harmed when the movie was taken away," Rahul Telang, a professor of information systems at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College who has researched the digitization of copyrighted industries, told Ars. "I think it is well established that digital products are licensed and they cannot be used as physical products. One has to prove that Amazon provided false information that they were buying a product ..." Karon, pointing to Amazon’s choice of words, told Ars: “I like plaintiff’s chances.” He explained: A normal consumer, after whom the California statute at issue is fashioned, would consider ‘buy’ or ‘purchase’ to involve a permanent transaction, not a mere rental, as is occurring here. If the facts are as plaintiff alleges, Amazon’s behavior would likely constitute a breach of contract or ...