In the last few weeks, the internet has been buzzing with news of the Adobe FTC conflict as the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued Adobe for allegedly ‘trapping’ customers in their expensive contracts. The charges state that Adobe is resorting to manipulative licensing by making the cancellation process difficult and costlier.
It is alleged that Adobe influenced customers into subscribing to their ‘annual paid monthly’ plan, but they didn’t reveal that its cancellation could incur hundreds of dollars. “Adobe trapped customers into year-long subscriptions through hidden early termination fees and numerous cancellation hurdles,” said Samuel Levine, FTC Consumer Protection Director.
As per their subscription terms, Adobe calculates early termination fees as 50% of the remaining monthly charges if consumers cancel within twelve months.
Apart from these, customers also experienced difficulties while accessing customer service for the problems they were facing with Adobe license cancellation. There have been multiple instances of dropped chats and calls. Some consumers also claimed to have been charged by Adobe even after they canceled the license.
However, Adobe has not accepted these charges. “Our priority is to always ensure our customers have a positive experience. We are transparent with the terms and conditions of our subscription agreements and have a simple cancellation process,” said General Counsel Dana Rao in a statement on behalf of Adobe.
The allegation against Adobe: Predatory pricing and rent-seeking behavior
For a long time, Adobe has been accused of using predatory pricing in their licensing terms. It can be considered an example of rent-seeking behavior, where organizations try to gain wealth by manipulating customers. This is quite evident in the lawsuit.
During enrollment, Adobe hides material terms of its APM (Annual, Paid Monthly subscription) plan in fine print and behind optional textboxes and hyperlinks, providing disclosures that are designed to go unnoticed and that most consumers never see. Adobe then deters cancellations by employing an onerous and complicated cancellation process. As part of this convoluted process, Adobe ambushes subscribers with the previously obscured ETF (early termination fee) when they attempt to cancel. Through these practices, Adobe has violated federal laws designed to protect consumers.
– An extract from the lawsuit
Also, in the Adobe community, there are multiple entries, such as the screenshots below (ignore the grammar and typo issues), where users have ranted about how they have suffered because of Adobe’s non-transparent policy and pricing.
The challenges in tracking and optimizing Adobe licenses
Notably, the shift from a perpetual model to a subscription-based model in 2012 has been a major benchmark in the history of Adobe licensing. But it has not gone down well in time. As Adobe doesn’t have a concurrent license offering, organizations have to opt for named-user licenses, where it becomes pretty difficult to track the usage. Also, Adobe’s licensing model focuses on usage, not deployment, so real-time license optimization (license harvesting) becomes out of option. As it is a named user license, even after the user closes the application, it will not help in license optimization.
How to overcome Adobe licensing nightmares?
With OpenLM, our smart SLM solution, you can avail a three-way support in managing Adobe licenses. These include tracking the duration of usage, identifying accessed Adobe apps and the time an Adobe app was last accessed. Leveraging this support, you can optimize Adobe licenses via two methods:
- Periodic access clean-up: Suppose a user has used an Adobe application for one month and no longer uses it. The reason might be that they no longer require the license or their role has changed, or anything. In such cases, we can provide you with the information of the ‘last accessed’ Adobe applications. According to it, we can do a periodic clean-up of access, and this information can significantly optimize the usage of Adobe licenses and reduce costs.
- Factual data-based reallocations: This helps to track license usage and help you to make informed decisions about reallocating licenses from inactive users or planning for renewals.
While OpenLM’s smart license monitoring can help you combat the Adobe licensing hurdle, it is prudent to consider every term and condition of Adobe thoroughly while negotiating. Consult with your legal team if required. Thus, you can avoid future confusion regarding cancellation or upgrade charges and dispute anything that goes beyond the scope of the contract.
Register for our upcoming webinars to learn more about how we support Adobe licenses, our product upgrades, and everything SLM.
Disclaimer: All information are sourced from publicly available documents and data. For further details, contact Adobe or your software provider.
