Amazon Presses to Compel Documents That 'Impeach' FTC's ROSCA Case
Amazon is seeking narrow categories of documents demonstrating the “ambiguity and lack of consensus” surrounding the FTC’s “unprecedented application” of the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) in its case against Amazon Prime, it said Friday. Amazon filed its reply…
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(docket 2:23-cv-00932) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle in support of its motion to compel production of FTC communications and internal documents (see 2310200061). The company contends its Prime enrollment and cancellation processes don’t violate ROSCA. It claims those processes prominently and repeatedly disclose key terms like Prime’s price and automatic renewal feature, confirming that they comply with current law. The FTC doesn’t deny the documents exist or argue undue burden, said Amazon’s reply. Instead, the FTC argues that its discussions about ROSCA are irrelevant because ROSCA is clear on its face, it said. But less than a year ago, the FTC said the opposite, that new regulations are needed because the current framework, including ROSCA, doesn’t provide clarity, it said. That “contradiction alone” is reason to grant Amazon’s motion to compel, it said. Amazon must be permitted to secure information that will "impeach or contradict" the FTC’s case, it said. The agency is wrong that the documents have nothing to do with this case, it said. They are relevant to show the FTC “has manufactured a legal standard here that does not exist in the law,” Amazon said. They are also relevant “to undermine the FTC’s litigation positions and cross-examine witnesses about what the FTC now says ROSCA requires,” as well as to Amazon’s arguments that it lacked fair notice of and didn't knowingly violate a law that the agency has acknowledged isn't established, said the replay. The FTC must produce the four categories of requested documents, it said.