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Attorneys for Amazon had urged U.S. District Judge John Chun to
dismiss the FTC's claims. Amazon did not immediately respond to
a request for comment.
The FTC lawsuit filed in June 2023 accusing the retailer of
deceptive practices. It argued Amazon made it hard to cancel and
knew that a percentage of consumers accidentally signed up for
Prime and that some consumers were charged for multiple months
before they canceled their memberships.
Amazon urged Chun to dismiss the FTC lawsuit, arguing the
company "prominently and repeatedly" disclosed key terms -
including price and automatic renewal - to Prime customers.
Amazon also accused the FTC of seeking to punish the company
through "undefined concepts" such as "manipulative" website
designs.
Amazon used "manipulative, coercive or deceptive user-interface
designs known as 'dark patterns' to trick consumers into
enrolling in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions," the
FTC said, which has sought civil penalties and a permanent
injunction to prevent future violations.
The lawsuit is part of the Biden administration's ongoing
regulatory and enforcement squeeze on big technology companies.
In a separate lawsuit, the FTC in September accused Amazon of
violating U.S. antitrust law in business practices that restrict
merchants from offering lower prices than Amazon's. That case is
also pending in Chun's Seattle court and set for trial in
October 2026.
The FTC's Prime lawsuit said Amazon "under substantial pressure"
from the FTC changed its cancellation process in April, before
the agency filed its lawsuit. The complaint said "Amazon still
requires five clicks on desktop and six on mobile for consumers
to cancel from Amazon.com."
A 10-day non-jury trial in the case is scheduled for February
2025.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Himani Sarkar and
Christopher Cushing)
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