Impending hefty fine

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The Düsseldorf Regional Court also declared a Prime price increase to be unlawful. This involved an increase in the annual fee from 69 to 89.90 euros.(Bild: APA/AFP/Martin BUREAU)

On Friday, the Düsseldorf Regional Court upheld an action for injunctive relief brought by Alcatel-Lucent against Amazon in a patent dispute.

Amazon is no longer allowed to offer its Prime Video streaming service in Germany in its current form. Otherwise it faces a fine of up to 250,000 euros or imprisonment.

The background to this is a change to the Prime Video streaming service: Since February 2024, more advertising has been played there - without customers' prior consent.

Impermissible contract adjustment
Amazon had given its customers the choice of seeing advertising while streaming in future or continuing to stream ad-free for just under three euros more per month. The consumer advocates see the change as an unlawful contract adjustment and are demanding reimbursement of the additional payments.

Another lawsuit dismissed
Another lawsuit against Amazon was dismissed. Neither company initially issued a statement.

The Düsseldorf Regional Court also declared a Prime price increase to be inadmissible. This involved an increase in the annual fee from 69 to 89.90 euros.(Bild: AFP)

Amazon invests 100 billion in AI infrastructure
On Friday evening, it was also announced that the company plans to invest the equivalent of 96.53 billion euros in AI infrastructure. In the previous year, 26.3 billion dollars had already been invested in its expansion. 

Amazon is not only the world's largest online retailer, but also the leading provider of cloud infrastructure.