When you click “buy” on a digital movie or TV show, you usually are not buying it in any ordinary sense. On Amazon’s Prime Video, Apple, Google, and similar storefronts, that button gets you a revocable license to stream or download the title, and the seller can pull it from your library if a rights deal expires or the service shuts down. A class action filed against Amazon in August 2025, together with a new California law, is now testing whether calling that transaction a “purchase” is deceptive in the first place.
What Amazon’s Terms Actually Give You
Amazon’s Prime Video Terms of Use, last updated in May 2025, describe the transaction plainly. Clicking “buy” gives you a “non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, limited license” for “personal, non-commercial, private use.” Purchased content is meant for viewing “over an indefinite period of time,” but the terms warn it “may become unavailable due to potential content provider licensing restrictions or for other reasons.” Amazon adds that it “will not be liable” if a title vanishes from your library.1Amazon. Prime Video Terms of Use
In practice, that means the rights holder behind a film can pull its license from Amazon and the movie disappears from the store and from every library that paid for it. Amazon also reserves the right to suspend or discontinue the service entirely, without owing anything to customers whose collections go with it.1Amazon. Prime Video Terms of Use
None of this is unique to Amazon. The problem of consumers losing access to “purchased” digital content affects storefronts run by Apple and Google as well.2The Hollywood Reporter. Prime Video Lawsuit Movie License Ownership
The Lawsuit Challenging the Word “Buy”
Lisa Reingold filed a proposed class action against Amazon on August 21, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The complaint accuses Amazon of a “bait and switch”: the storefront advertises a “buy” button, then discloses the license reality in a footnote at the bottom of the purchase confirmation page in noticeably smaller text than the rest of the screen.3Top Class Actions. Amazon Prime Customers Sue Say Purchased Movies Can Disappear
Reingold says she paid $20.79 for Bella and the Bulldogs — Volume 4 in May 2025 and later lost access to it. She seeks to represent all California consumers who purchased digital audiovisual content from Amazon, bringing claims under California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The suit asks for damages, restitution, disgorgement of Amazon’s profits, and a jury trial.3Top Class Actions. Amazon Prime Customers Sue Say Purchased Movies Can Disappear
The case is not Amazon’s first. A similar suit, Caudel v. Amazon, was filed in 2020 and dismissed in October 2021 for lack of standing.4Ars Technica. Prime Video Back in Court Over Using the Word Buy What changed is the law underneath it.
California’s AB 2426
California’s AB 2426 took effect on January 1, 2025. The statute bars sellers from advertising a digital transaction as a “purchase” unless the buyer receives unrestricted ownership. If the transaction is actually a license, the seller must either obtain an affirmative acknowledgment from the consumer or provide a clear, conspicuous disclosure before checkout explaining that the content is licensed and may be revoked.5ClassAction.org. Amazon Prime Video Lawsuit Claims Customers Who Buy Content Are Misled About Ownership Rights Reingold’s suit argues Amazon’s small-print footnote does not meet that standard. As of mid-2026 the case remains in its early stages, with no reported rulings, settlements, or dismissals.3Top Class Actions. Amazon Prime Customers Sue Say Purchased Movies Can Disappear
The Same Fight Beyond Movies
Digital games raise the same questions. In January 2026 a consumer named Jake Weber filed a class action against GameStop in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, invoking AB 2426. The suit alleges GameStop uses “buy” and “Add to Cart” for digital video games without disclosing that customers get a revocable license rather than ownership.6ClassAction.org. Weber v. GameStop Inc. Complaint
The starkest example so far is Ubisoft’s shutdown of the online racing game The Crew in March 2024. When the servers went dark the game became completely unplayable, and players who had paid for it received notices that their licenses were being revoked with no refund. The shutdown sparked the “Stop Killing Games” consumer movement and, in March 2026, a lawsuit from the French consumer association UFC-Que Choisir alleging deceptive practices and abusive contract terms. A separate class action over The Crew is being litigated in California.7Game Developer. French Consumer Group Sues Ubisoft Over Shutdown of The Crew8Yahoo News. Ubisoft Sued Again Over Crew
What Regulators Are Saying
In April 2024 the Federal Trade Commission published a consumer alert titled “Do you really own the digital items you paid for?” The agency warned that a “buy” button often means nothing more than a license to access content that can be changed or revoked, and it advised consumers to read terms of service and consider alternatives, including physical media.9Federal Trade Commission. Do You Really Own Digital Items You Paid For
In February 2025, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden wrote to the FTC asking for formal rulemaking that would require clear disclosure of ownership rights at the point of sale. Wyden pointed to Sony’s 2023 removal of previously purchased Discovery content from PlayStation libraries and Amazon’s restrictions on downloading e-books.10Office of Senator Ron Wyden. Wyden to FTC Stop Companies From Offering Bait and Switch Sales No formal FTC enforcement action or proposed rule has been publicly announced in response.
How to Protect Yourself Before You Click Buy
Until the courts sort out whether “buy” can keep meaning “license,” a few habits reduce the odds of paying for something that later disappears.
- Read the terms of service before spending real money on a digital library. The Prime Video terms, for example, say directly that titles may become unavailable and that Amazon will not be liable if that happens.1Amazon. Prime Video Terms of Use
- Consider physical media for movies and shows you want to keep long-term. The FTC specifically flagged this as an alternative in its April 2024 alert.9Federal Trade Commission. Do You Really Own Digital Items You Paid For
- If you live in California and bought digital content after January 1, 2025 that was later revoked or that lacked a clear license disclosure at checkout, AB 2426 and the pending Reingold class action may be relevant to your situation.5ClassAction.org. Amazon Prime Video Lawsuit Claims Customers Who Buy Content Are Misled About Ownership Rights
The short version is the one the FTC put in its headline. When you pay for a digital movie, you are almost never buying the movie. You are buying permission to watch it for as long as the platform decides to let you.