Textbook authors sue Cengage

Two authors have filed a federal lawsuit.


The authors say that Cengage’s new subscription service, Cengage Unlimited, will impact sales – and royalties – of their work.

Cengage Unlimited provides a subscription service for all college materials. The authors say this means that direct sales of their works will inevitably be reduced. The law suit says that the publisher has wrongfully implemented “a unilateral change to the compensation structure” for its authors. It also says that Cengage is not compensating the authors appropriately for use of their content or sharing royalty calculations and sales data with them.

Cengage stated “we remain steadfast in our commitment to proceeding down the path that will ultimately save students hundreds of dollars a year.”

Sources: Publishers Weekly; Inside Higher Ed.