Amazon really wants you to know that you don’t own any videos purchased through Prime Video

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

If you’re an Amazon Prime Video subscriber and purchase a movie or TV show through the platform, you would think that you own whatever you just threw money at, right? Well, as it turns out, you really don’t.

So what’s the deal? According to Amazon, what you’re paying for is a limited license for “on-demand viewing over an indefinite period of time.”

Why are we making a big fuss about this now? It turns out someone is suing the company for unfair competition and false advertising, claiming the company is misleading customers because “sometimes that video content might later become unavailable if a third-party rights’ holder revokes or modifies Amazon’s license.”

“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,” writes attorney David Biderman in the motion. “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.”

Caudel v Amazon MTD by THROnline

Naturally, Amazon is pulling the “did you read the terms of service?” card. Biderman says, “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.”

So yea, it’s right there in black and white. But the funning thing about this whole lawsuit is that the plaintiff never had any of their videos deleted! “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.”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don’t know; if I were a judge, this case would clearly be dismissed. But that’s not for me to decide. The moral of the story here is to read the fine print before you decide to sue a company. That and the fact that videos you buy through Amazon Prime Video is not yours to own, but instead, you’re paying for a limited license.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it’s unfair that you don’t get to own the videos you purchased through Amazon Prime Video? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• How to set up multiple Amazon Prime Video user profiles
• Amazon Prime Video finally lets you assign multiple user profiles to one account
• How to watch Amazon Prime videos with up to 99 of your friends and family
• Amazon Prime Video now has a ‘Watch Party’ feature – here’s how it works

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com.