Adobe Subscription Plan Canadian Class Action

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CONSUMER LAW GROUP has filed a Canadian class action against Adobe Systems Canada Inc. and Adobe, Inc. for alleged deceptive practices related to its subscription services, which deploy misleading enrollment and automatic renewal schemes intended to induce consumers to unwittingly enroll in costly subscriptions. Consumers are routinely misled about key terms of subscriptions, including the duration of subscriptions, renewal conditions, and cancellation policies.

The potential class action alleges that for years, Adobe has harmed consumers by enrolling them in its default, most lucrative subscription plan without clearly disclosing important plan terms. More specifically, Adobe fails to adequately disclose to consumers that by signing up for the “Annual, Paid Monthly” subscription plan (“APM plan”), they are agreeing to a year-long commitment and a hefty early termination fee (“ETF”) that can amount to hundreds of dollars.

It is alleged that during the enrollment process, Adobe hides material terms of its APM 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 when they attempt to cancel.

It is also alleged that Adobe utilizes other onerous cancellation procedures to trap consumers in subscriptions they no longer want. Consumers attempting to cancel online are forced to navigate numerous hurdles, including hidden cancellation buttons and multiple, unnecessary steps such as pages devoted to password re-entry, retention offers, surveys, and warnings. Consumers attempting to cancel via phone or chat experience dropped calls and chats, significant wait times, and repeated transfers.

Adobe offers three types of subscription plans to consumers: (1) Monthly, (2) Annual Paid Monthly (APM), and (3) Annual Prepaid. The APM plan is sometimes referred to by Adobe as “Yearly, billed monthly” or “Annual, billed monthly” (ABM). Adobe frequently pre-selects the APM plan as a default selection in subscription enrollment flows.

The APM plan accounts for most of Adobe’s subscription revenues. Since at least 2019, the APM plan has included the following material terms, among others:

a. subscribers are automatically charged each month until they affirmatively cancel;
b. cancellation before the end of the year is subject to an ETF;
c. Adobe calculates the ETF amount as 50 % of the “remaining contract obligation,”—i.e., the customer will be “charged a lump sum amount” of 50 percent of the total monthly charges for the months remaining in the yearly contract;
d. subscribers who cancel before the end of the first year lose service at the end of the monthly billing period during which they cancel; and
e. subscribers cancelling within 14 days of their first payment are entitled to a full refund.

The potential class action alleges that Adobe’s subscription-based model incentivizes it to, on the front end, lock consumers into longer-term subscriptions like the APM plan, and, on the back end, discourage cancellation.

In March 2026, the United States’ Department of Justice and Adobe entered into a consent agreement and agreed to pay $150 million in civil penalties and free services, as well Adobe will be required to clearly disclose any Early Termination Fee and how the fee is calculated before enrolling customers in subscriptions. For any free trial lasting longer than seven days, Adobe must also remind customers before converting them into a paid subscription with an Early Termination Fee. Furthermore, Adobe will be required to provide its subscribers with easy ways to cancel their subscriptions.

If you or someone you know were enrolled into an Adobe annual, billed monthly subscription and paid early termination fees and/or faced difficulties in canceling your Adobe subscription, please provide your contact information to our law firm using the below form.

IF YOU WISH TO JOIN THE CLASS ACTION OR TO SIMPLY GET MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW. Please note that providing your information creates no financial obligation for you. You are not charged any fee or cost for joining this class action. Our law firm is paid a contingency fee from the compensation recovered, only if the class action is successful. All information contained in this transmission is confidential and Consumer Law Group agrees to protect this information against unauthorized use, publication or disclosure.