The DOJ alleged in its 2024 filing that Adobe’s handling of subscriptions violated the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, which was passed in 2010 to prevent deceptive charges in online services. With the newly announced settlement, Adobe will be able to wrap up the case for a relative pittance.
Adobe maintains innocence
The case could have been messy for Adobe if it had gone to court, but now that won’t happen. Under the terms of the settlement, Adobe has agreed to pay the government $75 million, but it doesn’t admit to violating the law.
“While we disagree with the government’s claims and deny any wrongdoing, we are pleased to resolve this matter,” Adobe said in a statement.
In addition to giving the government its pound of flesh, Adobe says it will provide $75 million in free services to affected customers. It is unclear from the statement which customers qualify or what they’ll get. We’ve asked Adobe for specifics, but it’s a safe bet that anyone who paid a cancellation fee is included. Adobe says it will reach out to these customers with details once it has made the necessary court filings to wrap up the case.
Don’t expect this outcome to change how Adobe does business today. The company claims it has rolled out changes to its sales pipeline in recent years to make the cancellation fees clearer at the time of purchase. And it’s undoubtedly going to continue focusing on subscriptions. Revenues have been growing steadily ever since it switched to Creative Cloud, and it made more than $7 billion in net profit last year. Writing a $75 million check to make this case go away is a big win for Adobe.