{"id":132142,"date":"2025-08-27T15:36:55","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T23:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/27\/amazon-hit-with-class-action-suit-over-stealth-leasing-videos\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T15:36:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T23:36:55","slug":"amazon-hit-with-class-action-suit-over-stealth-leasing-videos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/27\/amazon-hit-with-class-action-suit-over-stealth-leasing-videos\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon Hit With Class Action Suit Over Stealth Leasing Videos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally, a reason to prefer vinyl or Bluetooth over streaming services that doesn\u2019t make you sound like a Hipster or a Luddite \u2014 it is a lot easier to know that you actually own<\/em> physical media. You may have noticed that entertainment providers like Amazon will give you the option of buying or renting films on the website. The intuitive assumption is that renting is cheaper because your access to it is limited, but if you buy a video offered by the streaming service it is yours forever. Well, not really \u2014 and that could be misleading enough to justify going to court over. Hollywood Reporter<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

On Friday, a proposed class action was filed in Washington federal court against Amazon over a \u201cbait and switch\u201d in which the company allegedly misleads consumers into believing they\u2019ve purchased content when they\u2019re only getting a license to watch, which can be revoked at any time.
\u2026
Lisa Reingold, who filed the lawsuit, says she bought Bella and the Bulldogs \u2014 Volume 4<\/em> on Amazon in May for $20.79 but soon lost access to the title. It\u2019s not an uncommon occurrence, similarly affecting consumers across digital stores, like those hosted by Apple and Google. If you bought Downton Abbey <\/em>through Amazon as the five seasons came out from 2010 to 2015, you\u2019d no longer have them by 2024.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now that you\u2019ve processed what you\u2019ve just read, I\u2019ll give you 5 or so minutes to see if that season of Teen Titans you bought on Amazon is still in your library. Back? I\u2019m either happy for you or sorry for your loss. <\/p>\n

Is it false advertisement to market a lease agreement as a bona fide \u201cBuy\u201d? While I can\u2019t speak for Lisa personally, renting Bella and the Bulldogs for a month at $20.79 is a much<\/em> harder sale than actually buying it for that price \u2014 and I could understand why someone would be baffled to discover the season they just bought disappeared from their TV. And while the purchase didn\u2019t seem to go in her favor, California consumer protection laws are a lot more amenable to her arguments. If you live in the Golden State, this could be prime time to get in on that Prime money.<\/p>\n

You Don\u2019t Actually Own That Movie You Just \u201cBought.\u201d A New Class Action Lawsuit Targets Amazon<\/a> [Hollywood Reporter]<\/p>\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Amazon Hit With Class Action Suit Over Stealth Leasing Videos<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finally, a reason to prefer vinyl or Bluetooth over streaming services that doesn\u2019t make you sound like a Hipster or a Luddite \u2014 it is a lot easier to know that you actually own<\/em> physical media. You may have noticed that entertainment providers like Amazon will give you the option of buying or renting films on the website. The intuitive assumption is that renting is cheaper because your access to it is limited, but if you buy a video offered by the streaming service it is yours forever. Well, not really \u2014 and that could be misleading enough to justify going to court over. Hollywood Reporter<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

On Friday, a proposed class action was filed in Washington federal court against Amazon over a \u201cbait and switch\u201d in which the company allegedly misleads consumers into believing they\u2019ve purchased content when they\u2019re only getting a license to watch, which can be revoked at any time.
\u2026
Lisa Reingold, who filed the lawsuit, says she bought Bella and the Bulldogs \u2014 Volume 4<\/em> on Amazon in May for $20.79 but soon lost access to the title. It\u2019s not an uncommon occurrence, similarly affecting consumers across digital stores, like those hosted by Apple and Google. If you bought Downton Abbey <\/em>through Amazon as the five seasons came out from 2010 to 2015, you\u2019d no longer have them by 2024.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now that you\u2019ve processed what you\u2019ve just read, I\u2019ll give you 5 or so minutes to see if that season of Teen Titans you bought on Amazon is still in your library. Back? I\u2019m either happy for you or sorry for your loss. <\/p>\n

Is it false advertisement to market a lease agreement as a bona fide \u201cBuy\u201d? While I can\u2019t speak for Lisa personally, renting Bella and the Bulldogs for a month at $20.79 is a much<\/em> harder sale than actually buying it for that price \u2014 and I could understand why someone would be baffled to discover the season they just bought disappeared from their TV. And while the purchase didn\u2019t seem to go in her favor, California consumer protection laws are a lot more amenable to her arguments. If you live in the Golden State, this could be prime time to get in on that Prime money.<\/p>\n

You Don\u2019t Actually Own That Movie You Just \u201cBought.\u201d A New Class Action Lawsuit Targets Amazon<\/a> [Hollywood Reporter]<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Amazon Hit With Class Action Suit Over Stealth Leasing Videos<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finally, a reason to prefer vinyl or Bluetooth over streaming services that doesn\u2019t make you sound like a Hipster or a Luddite \u2014 it is a lot easier to know that you actually own physical media. You may have noticed that entertainment providers like Amazon will give you the option of buying or renting films […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":132143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Chris-Williams-2025-0ToNnP.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}