A federal trial is now underway to decode the meaning of “Iliad,” the internal codename for Amazon’s Prime cancellation process. The U.S. government is arguing that the name is a clear indicator that the system was a deliberate ordeal, designed to be a modern-day epic of frustration for consumers.
The Federal Trade Commission is putting the codename at the center of its case, presenting it as a confession of intent. The agency will argue that a company does not name a user-friendly process after a decade-long war. The name, the FTC contends, reveals a corporate culture that was cavalier about creating customer friction.
The trial will connect this alleged intent to the actual design of the “Iliad” flow. The government will present evidence of a multi-page, multi-click process that it says was a “labyrinth” by design, created specifically to reduce the number of successful cancellations.
This focus on a single codename highlights the importance of internal communications in corporate lawsuits. The FTC is betting that this evocative name will be a powerful and memorable piece of evidence for the jury, encapsulating the entire case in a single word.
Amazon’s defense will likely be to downplay the significance of the codename. The company’s lawyers may argue it was an inside joke or an informal descriptor that did not reflect official corporate policy. They will contend that the government is building its entire case on a flimsy and misinterpreted piece of trivia.
