Adobe Will Pay $75 Million to Settle Lawsuit over Its Hard-to-Cancel Subscriptions
But it doesn't agree with the accusation.
Ink Drop, Shutterstock
Back in 2024, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Adobe, claiming that the company enrolled users in its default subscription plan without clearly disclosing the cancellation terms.
"Adobe fails to adequately disclose to consumers that by signing up for the 'Annual, Paid Monthly' subscription plan, they are agreeing to a year-long commitment and a hefty early termination fee that can amount to hundreds of dollars," the complaint read.
This lawsuit is finally closed, with Adobe agreeing to pay $75 million worth of services for free to the affected customers and an extra $75 million to the Department of Justice.
However, the company doesn't agree with the accusations made against it.
"We are transparent with the terms and conditions of our subscription agreements, have a simple cancellation process and clearly disclose the details of our plans, which we carefully crafted to maximize value and benefits to our customers. In recent years, we have made our sign-up and cancellation processes even more streamlined and transparent," it states.
"While we disagree with the government’s claims and deny any wrongdoing, we are pleased to resolve this matter," Adobe concludes.
Just before the lawsuit was filed, the community strongly criticized the company's then-new General Terms of Use, which states that users grant the company a royalty-free, sublicensable license to "use, reproduce, publicly display, distribute, modify, create derivative works based on, publicly perform, and translate" their creations.
$150 million might not be much for Adobe, but hopefully, its terms will be clearer now.
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