Users have sued Amazon Prime Video for removing media from their library after being purchased, accusing the company of fraudulent advertising.
Users have been “purchasing” media on Prime Video (movies, television shows) only to realize months later that their purchases no longer exists in their media library. That’s because Amazon only sells a limited-time license to its users so that they watch the movie in perpetuity until the company loses the rights.
Per The Hollywood Reporter:
If the tech giant loses the rights to that version, the movie can be replaced with a different cut, like the one for theaters. And if Amazon loses the rights to the film altogether, it’ll completely disappear from the viewer’s library.
So should Amazon be able to say a consumer is “buying” that movie? Some people don’t think so, and they’ve turned to court.
Filed on Friday in Washington federal court, the class action lawsuit accuses Amazon of doing a “bait and switch” to mislead consumers into a “purchasing” media they do not actually own under false labels.
“On its website and platform, the company tells consumers they can ‘buy’ a movie. But hidden in a footnote on the confirmation page is fine print that says, ‘You receive a license to the video and you agree to our terms,’ the complaint says,’” noted the outlet.
Detail of the Amazon Prime streaming app on the screen of an Apple iPad Mini, taken on October 6, 2021. (Olly Curtis/Future Publishing)
The lawsuit only highlights the growing distrust between cinema lovers and streaming services following the decline of physical media. As Breitbart News reported in 2023, the Criterion Channel, a streaming platform that prides itself on the preservation of classic cinema, was discovered to have been airing a censored version of The French Connection that inexplicably removed the line in which Gene Hackman’s character, Popeye Doyle, utters the N-word and an anti-Italian slur.
Also in 2023, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) threw shade at streaming services following the release of Oppenheimer on Blu-ray when he advocated that people buy physical media “so no evil streaming service can come steal it from you.”
“Obviously Oppenheimer has been quite a ride for us and now it is time for me to release a home version of the film. I’ve been working very hard on it for months,” Nolan said. “I’m known for my love of theatrical and put my whole life into that, but, the truth is, the way the film goes out at home is equally important.”
“The Dark Knight was one of the first films where we formatted it specially for Blu-ray release because it was a new form at the time,” he continued. “And in the case of Oppenheimer, we put a lot of care and attention into the Blu-ray version… and trying to translate the photography and the sound, putting that into the digital realm with a version you can buy and own at home and put on a shelf so no evil streaming service can come steal it from you.”
Director Mike Flanagan has also criticized Netflix for allegedly being “hostile” to the idea of physical media.
“I tried very hard to get them to release my work on Blu-Ray & DVD. Netflix refused at every turn. It became clear very fast that their only priority was subs, and that they were actively hostile to the idea of physical media,” he said.
“This is a very dangerous point of view. While companies like Netflix pride themselves on being disruptors and have proven that they can affect great change in the industry, they sometimes fail to see the difference between disruption and damage. So much that they can find themselves, intentionally or not, doing enormous harm to the very concept of film preservation,” he added.
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube, Tubi, or Fawesome TV. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
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