Here's a bit of a blast from the past. A federal judge has decided that Amazon was in the wrong when it billed parents for in-app purchases made by their kids on its Appstore platform. Both Apple and Google settled this case with the Federal Trade Commission two years ago, but Amazon wanted its day in court. It didn't go so well.

All three companies were investigated by the FTC following a myriad of complaints from irate parents. You have to remember these complaints were made in the days before app stores had the tools to prevent unauthorized purchases. Google, Apple, and Amazon have all added such features in the interim, but Amazon still didn't think it was in the wrong back then.

The judge has not yet decided on the penalty, but the FTC believes as much as 42% of the $86 million Amazon earned in IAPs prior to instituting controls were made by unauthorized parties (i.e. kids). It wants a full refund of that amount, as much as $36 million. Amazon disagrees with these numbers, of course. The original settlement called on Google to refund $19 million and Apple to refund $32.5 million. If there's any good news for Amazon, it's that the judge rejected the FTC's request for 20 years of regulatory oversight. The changes made to IAP authorizations saved the company from that.

Source: Reuters