On June 17, 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, together with the U.S. Department of Justice, sued Adobe over its Creative Cloud subscription practices. The agencies alleged that Adobe concealed early-termination fees, made cancellation more difficult than enrollment, and steered customers toward more expensive plans. The dispute centered on Adobe’s shift from perpetual software licenses to recurring subscriptions, a model that generated predictable revenue but left customers dependent on continued payments for access to core creative tools.
The supplied source states that Adobe and the government settled the lawsuit out of court for $150 million on March 13, 2026. It does not provide the settlement’s detailed compliance terms or identify a whistleblower. The case nevertheless extended regulatory scrutiny of “dark pattern” subscription design beyond consumer internet services and placed Adobe’s pricing, disclosure, and cancellation processes under federal enforcement pressure.
