Glossary · Consumer Protection

AB 2426: California's Digital Goods "Buy" Button Law

By Steve Levine · Updated September 2, 2026 · 6 min read

Quick Answer

AB 2426 is a California law, codified at Business and Professions Code section 17500.6 and effective January 1, 2025, that stops a digital storefront from using words like "buy" or "purchase" for a digital game, movie, book or song when the customer is actually getting a licence the seller can revoke. The seller has to either get the buyer's acknowledgement that it is a licence, or say so clearly and conspicuously before the sale completes. It is a disclosure rule, not an ownership rule: it changes what you are told, not what you get.

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What AB 2426 Requires

The statute applies to a seller of a digital good who advertises or offers it for sale using a term a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest — "buy," "purchase," and their equivalents. Where the transaction actually conveys a limited, revocable licence, the seller must do one of two things before the sale completes.

The first is to obtain the buyer's affirmative acknowledgement that they are receiving a licence rather than ownership, and that access can be revoked if the seller loses the right to distribute the content. The second is to provide a clear and conspicuous statement to the same effect, in plain language, distinct from the surrounding text, before the transaction goes through.

The operative word in both branches is the one doing the work: the disclosure has to be conspicuous and it has to come before payment. A licence term buried on page nine of a terms-of-service agreement the customer accepted when they first set up the account is the thing the statute was written to disqualify.

The Gap It Was Written to Close

For most of the history of consumer media, buying a thing and owning it were the same act. A disc, a cartridge, a paperback and a DVD could be resold, lent, given away, or played twenty years later with no server involved. When the shelf moved online, the checkout button kept the old word while the transaction underneath became something different: a licence, terminable, tied to an account, and dependent on the seller continuing to hold distribution rights.

Consumers found out the difference the way people usually find out about fine print — when something was taken away. Storefronts have removed purchased films from libraries after licensing deals lapsed. Publishers have shut down the servers that a purchased game required in order to run. In each case customers who believed they had bought something discovered they had rented it on indefinite terms that the other side could end.

What the Law Does Not Do

AB 2426 does not give anyone ownership of anything. A storefront that complies is still selling a revocable licence; it has simply told the buyer so. Access can still be withdrawn, a library entry can still stop working, and a shut-down server can still render a game unplayable. The customer will just have been warned.

Three categories fall outside it. A digital good the buyer can download permanently and use offline is not covered, because that transaction does not carry the same revocation risk. Subscription services are not covered, since nobody believes a monthly plan conveys ownership. Free content is not covered either.

Nor does the statute reach the packaging of physical goods that deliver digital ones. When Rockstar Games said in June 2026 that the boxed edition of Grand Theft Auto VI would contain a download code rather than a disc, and two independent retailers said they would not stock it, the objection was the same one AB 2426 is about — a shelf product that delivers a licence — but arriving through a channel the law was not drafted with in mind.

How It Is Being Tested in Court

The first significant test is a proposed class action against Sony over the PlayStation Store, which alleges that "Buy Now" and "Confirm Purchase" appear at checkout while the Software Product License Agreement says the software is "licensed to you, not sold." Sony has moved to compel arbitration or, failing that, to dismiss, arguing that reasonable consumers are not misled because they agree to that licence before buying. The allegations are unproven, no class has been certified, and there is no settlement and nothing to claim. Read the detail on the Sony PlayStation digital game licence class action.

A separate case shows what the underlying harm looks like once it has already happened. Ubisoft shut down the servers for The Crew in 2024 and the game stopped working for everyone who had bought it, disc owners included, because it required a connection to run. That litigation resolved in a $2 million settlement paying $7 in cash or $15 in store credit.

AB 2426 claims are typically pleaded alongside California's False Advertising Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, which supply remedies the newer statute does not spell out on its own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does AB 2426 mean I now own the digital games and movies I buy?

No. AB 2426 is a disclosure law, not an ownership law. It does not convert a licence into ownership and it does not stop a storefront from revoking access. It regulates what the seller must tell you before you pay, so that the word buy is not used to describe a transaction the seller knows is a revocable licence.

What does AB 2426 not cover?

It does not reach a digital good the buyer can permanently download and keep offline, a subscription service, or a free item. It also does not apply to a seller who obtains the buyer's affirmative acknowledgement that the transaction is a licence, or who gives a clear and conspicuous licence disclosure before the sale completes.

Can I sue a storefront under AB 2426?

A California class action against Sony over the PlayStation Store checkout is testing exactly that, alongside claims under the False Advertising Law and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Sony has moved to send the case to arbitration or have it dismissed and the allegations are unproven, so there is no settlement and nothing to claim. This page is informational and is not legal advice.

Does AB 2426 apply outside California?

The statute protects California consumers. In practice a storefront that redesigns its checkout to comply often ships the same checkout everywhere, because maintaining two flows is more expensive than maintaining one, so shoppers in other states may see the effect without being covered by the law.


Sources

• California Business and Professions Code § 17500.6 (added by AB 2426, 2024; effective January 1, 2025).
• California Civil Code § 1750 et seq. (Consumers Legal Remedies Act); Bus. & Prof. Code § 17500 et seq. (False Advertising Law).
• Complaint and motion to compel arbitration, Heycock v. Sony Corporation of America, No. 3:26-cv-06016 (N.D. Cal.).
• Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto VI physical edition and pre-order details (June 24, 2026).

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