This is why you have to watch your kids carefully. This problem hit me close to home for me. My mother actually had a similar thing happen with my sister due to her obsession with the hit comedy shows, Malcolm in the Middle and Young Sheldon. In the span of two months, my sister has successfully bought every episode of both shows on Amazon Prime, either season-by-season or even episode-by-episode. I can only imagine how high that month’s credit card bill was; honestly, I don’t want to know. But I asked my mom why she didn’t do anything to get her money back, and she said, “Well, it’s my account, and I’m one who wasn’t paying enough attention to stop her. So it’s not like Amazon did anything wrong.” And she’s right. It’s entirely her fault that this happened, not Amazon’s. The same logic applies here and because of that, the Griffins’ lawsuit wouldn’t be successful.
iTunes Store’s terms and conditions clearly state that the account holder is solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of their account and that they’re responsible for all activities that occur on their account. Lois gave her password to Stewart, thereby authorizing him to make the purchases. Therefore, the responsibility for the unauthorized purchases lies with Lois, not Capcom and Apple. Further, this could have been prevented by Lois enabling parental controls on her account to prevent unauthorized purchases. Still, because she didn’t, Stewart could buy as many Smurfberries as his heart desired without permission.
These facts make it unlikely for a court to hold Apple and/or Capcom liable for the unauthorized purchases made on her account. Of course, Lois may be able to dispute the purchase with her bank or set up a plan with her credit card issuer. But for the court case, I don’t think it will lead anywhere.
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