Amazon Must Defend Claims of Deceptive Prime Subscriptions (1)

Amazon.com Inc. lost a bid to dismiss a suit brought by the Federal Trade Commission alleging it tricked, manipulated, and coerced consumers into subscribing to Amazon Prime.

The suit alleges Amazon and three of its executives violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act by failing to disclose the material terms of the subscription clearly and conspicuously, and by failing to obtain the consumers’ informed consent before enrolling them. The FTC also alleges the company didn’t provide simple mechanisms for subscribers to cancel their Prime memberships.

The complaint sufficiently alleges that Amazon knew a percentage ...