It is illegal and the court to decide to charge parents for permission to pay by parents at Amazon's app store

ByBen Mortimer

Amazon Android App StoreIn the case that a child accidentally purchased in-app items etc. by downloading free apps and games, the US federal court ruled that "it is illegal to charge children's parents for billing charges."

Federal Court Finds Amazon Liable for Billing Parents for Children's Unauthorized In-App Charges | Federal Trade Commission
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/04/federal-court-finds-amazon-liable-billing-parents-childrens

Amazon illegally billed parents for kids' in-app purchases, judge rules | The Verge
http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/27/11517794/amazon-liable-in-app-purchases-by-children-ftc-ruling

On Amazon Android App store, complaints have been flooded with Amazon about around 2014 on children's downloading free apps and charging in-app billing without charge knowledge or parental permission . The reason is that when downloading a free application on the Amazon Android App Store, no warning about in-app charges was displayed.

In response to complaints from users, Amazon has taken measures such as displaying a warning statement concerning billing at the time of installing the application and requesting a password, but the transaction committee says that "correspondence is insufficient" Judging, it was litigation. After that, in the Amazon Android App Store, before you download the application, the specification has been changed to ask you whether to allow in-app billing on the popup screen.


The Federal Court of the United States states that "Amazon has not sufficiently notified the user in advance that there is a charge element in the application about a free application, and charged the customer with a surprising charge amount" Supporting the trading committee's argument. The court issued a ruling on April 26, 2016 that "It is illegal for Amazon to charge children's parents for the price that a child mistakenly charged within an application."

Edith Ramirez, the trading committee representative, said, "I am delighted that the court has judged that Amazon should be held responsible if children accidentally charge." In addition, the transaction committee requires Amazon to fully refund the price that the user mistakenly charged from November 2011 to June 2014.

The transaction committee filed the lawsuit against Amazon in 2014, which is similar to Apple and Google. If three companies repay the fee to the consumer, it is estimated that the total amount will be over 50 million dollars (about 5.6 billion yen).