WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge in Seattle on Tuesday rejected Amazon.com's ( AMZN ) request to dismiss a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit that accuses the company of enrolling millions of consumers into its paid Amazon Prime service without their consent.

Attorneys for Amazon ( AMZN ) had urged U.S. District Judge John Chun to dismiss the FTC's claims. Amazon ( AMZN ) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FTC lawsuit filed in June 2023 accusing the retailer of deceptive practices. It argued Amazon ( AMZN ) made it hard to cancel and knew that a percentage of consumers accidentally signed up for Prime and that some consumers were charged for multiple months before they canceled their memberships.

Amazon ( AMZN ) urged Chun to dismiss the FTC lawsuit, arguing the company "prominently and repeatedly" disclosed key terms - including price and automatic renewal - to Prime customers. Amazon ( AMZN ) also accused the FTC of seeking to punish the company through "undefined concepts" such as "manipulative" website designs.

Amazon ( AMZN ) used "manipulative, coercive or deceptive user-interface designs known as 'dark patterns' to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions," the FTC said, which has sought civil penalties and a permanent injunction to prevent future violations.

The lawsuit is part of the Biden administration's ongoing regulatory and enforcement squeeze on big technology companies.

In a separate lawsuit, the FTC in September accused Amazon ( AMZN ) of violating U.S. antitrust law in business practices that restrict merchants from offering lower prices than Amazon's ( AMZN ). That case is also pending in Chun's Seattle court and set for trial in October 2026.

The FTC's Prime lawsuit said Amazon ( AMZN ) "under substantial pressure" from the FTC changed its cancellation process in April, before the agency filed its lawsuit. The complaint said "Amazon ( AMZN ) still requires five clicks on desktop and six on mobile for consumers to cancel from Amazon.com ( AMZN )."

A 10-day non-jury trial in the case is scheduled for February 2025.