With movie theaters seemingly in the middle of an existential crisis and streaming options becoming much more viable for those people who want to see the latest, greatest films, you’re going to find people paying money to companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon for access to features on their digital marketplaces. Whether that’s to rent a film for roughly $5 and have access to it for 48 hours or to purchase the film for a higher price and have it forever. But what happens if Amazon, Apple, or Google decide to remove that content from their library? If you’ve purchased the film, you get to keep it, right? Well, not necessarily.
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The idea behind what it means to “buy” a film on digital services like Amazon Prime Video is currently the subject of a lawsuit between a woman and the tech company. You see, the plaintiff is arguing that the movies that she purchases through Amazon’s digital marketplace should be hers to keep forever, as she would if she bought them on physical media. Amazon, on the other hand, is arguing the opposite. Basically, the company says that if you buy a film through the company’s digital marketplace, you’re only buying a licensing right, not the actual content.
“Plaintiff claims that Defendant Amazon’s Prime Video service, which allows consumers to purchase video content for streaming or download, misleads consumers because sometimes that video content might later become unavailable if a third-party rights’ holder revokes or modifies Amazon’s license,” wrote attorney David Biderman, defending Amazon’s claim (via THR). “The Complaint points vaguely to online commentary about this alleged potential harm but does not identify any Prime Video purchase unavailable to Plaintiff herself. In fact, all of the Prime Video content that Plaintiff has ever purchased remains available.”
He added, “The most relevant agreement here — the Prime Video Terms of Use — is presented to consumers every time they buy digital content on Amazon Prime Video. These Terms of Use expressly state that purchasers obtain only a limited license to view video content and that purchased content may become unavailable due to provider license restriction or other reasons.”
TL;DR – Even though you buy a digital film from Amazon, if the company decides to remove that film from the service, you’re out of luck. Your license, in effect, is expired. And yes, as Amazon points out, this is all detailed in the Terms of Use that everyone ignores and doesn’t really read. So, unfortunately, as the company continued, you don’t have to read the Terms of Use to be legally bound by it.
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“An individual does not need to read an agreement in order to be bound by it,” Biderman wrote. “A merchant term of service agreement in an online consumer transaction is valid and enforceable when the consumer had reasonable notice of the terms of service.”
So, if you’re someone that purchases your films through Amazon Prime Video, Google, or Apple, you should probably understand what you’re actually buying. If, for some reason, those companies go under or the films you have spent money on aren’t available anymore, you’re just out of luck. Plain and simple. Makes you miss the old days of buying Blu-rays, huh?
