-1-MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIESIN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO DISMISS2:20-CV-00848-KJM-KJN
12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728
MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES
Defendant Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”) hereby submits this memorandum of points and authorities in support of its Motion to Dismiss the Complaint of Plaintiff Amanda Caudel (“Caudel” or “Plaintiff”).
I. INTRODUCTION
Plaintiff’s Complaint is premised on speculative harm tied to contingent future events involving the actions of third-parties, which may or may not occur. This kind of conjecture about unaccrued future injury is too hypothetical to sustain Article III standing, and the Complaint should be dismissed. Moreover, even if Plaintiff had suffered any cognizable injury, her claims would fail on the merits because a contract between the parties explicitly allows for the practices of which she complains. 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. 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. And Plaintiff has continued to buy content on Amazon Prime Video even after. this Complaint was filed, making thirteen such purchases. These facts discredit any claim that Plaintiff has been injured. What’s more, the possibility that certain content might become unavailable is explicitly disclosed as part of terms of use repeatedly and conspicuously presented to consumers who buy content on Amazon Prime Video. Plaintiff and other Amazon Prime Video customers are required to and do consent to Amazon’s fully-disclosed, hyperlinked conditions and terms of use before making video content purchases. 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. So, beyond failing to allege harm sufficient to support Article III standing, Plaintiff’s consumer law claims are barred on the merits because they are predicated on a non-cognizable contract theory and Plaintiff cannot allege that any independent unlawful, unfair or fraudulent conduct that could support her claim for injunctive relief.
II. STATEMENT OF FACTS
Amazon Customers Purchasing Digital Content Assent to the Terms of Service.
Amazon offers a wide variety of services to customers, including the Prime Video service. Prime Video is a platform that allows customers who have signed up for the service to gain access to digital movies, television shows, and other video content (collectively “Digital Content”) for either download or streaming. See Compl. ¶ 1; see also Declaration of Marcela Viegas in Support of Motion to Dismiss (“Viegas Decl.”) ¶ 12, Ex. B (“Amazon Prime Video Terms of Use”).Digital Content is offered multiple ways on Amazon Prime—through subscriptions, rentals, purchases, pay-per-view, and free. Viegas Decl. Ex. B at 2. All Digital Content, regardless of how offered, is provided to customers on Prime Video through the grant of a limited license. Id. at 3(“Digital Content may be available as Subscription Digital Content, Rental Digital Content, Purchased Digital Content, PPV Digital Content, Free Digital Content, or any combination of those, and in each case is subject to the limited license grant below.”) (emphasis added); see also id. at 6(“Subject to payment of any charges to rent, purchase, or access Digital Content . . . Amazon grantsyou a . . . limited license . . . .”). Digital Content is offered to customers under a limited license, in part, because some of that Content is owned by third-parties who ultimately control its access and availability.
See id. at 3 (referring to “restrictions imposed by content providers”).Purchased Digital Content, that is, Digital Content that users can acquire for “on-demand viewing over an indefinite period of time,” is likewise provided via limited license. Id. The Prime Video Terms of Use therefore has a specific provision that explains that Purchased Digital Content may become unavailable to users and limits Amazon’s liability if this occurs: i. Availability of Purchased Digital Content. Purchased Digital Content will generally continue to be available to you for download or streaming from the Service, as applicable, but may become unavailable due to potential content provider licensing restrictions or for other...