Cengage reaches resolution with authors over subscription lawsuit

Cengage has reached a resolution in the court case which had seen two authors file a suit in the US over the inclusion of their work in Cengage's subscription service, Cengage Unlimited, launched late in 2017.

The suit, filed in New York earlier this year by authors David Knox and Caroline Schact, had claimed that the introduction of Cengage's subscription service - which sees users pay a fixed price to access all digital materials - was “systematically dismantling and frustrating the business of selling Plaintiffs’ work" in favour of selling subscriptions to Cengage’s digital products, and that due to this, the authors expected their royalties to decline "substantially".

In a brief statement, Cengage said under the terms of the resolution, authors David Knox and Caroline Schacht were buying one of their own titles - Choices in Relationships: An Introduction to Marriage and Family - from Cengage. However Cengage would keep exclusive rights in other works the two had authored or co-authored, "These works continue to be available with a Cengage Unlimited subscription," the publisher noted. The sums involved were not disclosed.

The statement said: "Cengage Unlimited was created to lower students' costs and increase access to our authors' quality learning materials.  The subscription has been positively received by students, faculty and authors because of the value it offers: for one price, students have unlimited access to more than 20,000 eBooks, online homework access codes and study guides.  

"We thank Mr Knox and Ms Schacht for their contributions to Cengage and wish them the very best in their future endeavours."