US sues Photoshop maker Adobe for hiding fees, making it difficult to cancel

The U.S. government sued Adobe (ADBE.O), opens new tab on Monday, accusing the Photoshop and Acrobat maker of harming consumers by concealing hefty termination fees in its most popular subscription plan, and making it difficult to cancel subscriptions.

In a complaint filed in the San Jose, California, federal court, the Federal Trade Commission said Adobe buries the fees, which sometimes reach hundreds of dollars, and other important terms in its "annual paid monthly" subscription plan in the fine print, or behind textboxes and hyperlinks.

According to the complaint, Adobe calculates early termination fees as 50% of the remaining payments when consumers cancel in their first year.

The FTC also said Adobe forces subscribers who want to cancel online to navigate unnecessarily through numerous pages, while those canceling by phone are often disconnected, are forced to repeat themselves to multiple representatives, and encounter "resistance and delay" from those representatives.