Audible controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2020
Concerns over audiobook return-policy abuse
Authors and other rights holders criticized Audible's customer-friendly return and exchange practices, arguing that some customers could listen to a title and then return it while the creator or publisher absorbed the economic impact. Audible modified its policy in November 2020 in response to those concerns.
2020
Audible and publishers resolve Captions lawsuit
Settlement
Audible and a group of publishers resolved their dispute over Audible Captions, a feature the publishers had alleged converted and distributed audiobook text without authorization. Attorneys for the parties said they expected to submit settlement documents by 21 January. The source provides no further details about the terms of the settlement.
Audible and the publishers resolved their dispute over Audible Captions, which publishers had alleged converted and distributed audiobook text without authorization. Their attorneys said they expected to submit settlement documents by 21 January; the source provides no further settlement details.
Source excerpt
Seven publishers, including the “Big Five” – Penguin Random House, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Macmillan – sued Audible in August
“Audible Captions takes publishers’ proprietary audiobooks, converts the narration into unauthorised text, and distributes the entire text of these ‘new’ digital books to Audible’s customers,” said the lawsuit.
In a letter filed this week in federal court in New York, Audible’s attorneys, writing on behalf of both sides, announced that the parties had resolved their disputes and expected to submit the settlement documents by 21 January.
2019
Audible Captions copyright litigation
Audible announced Captions, a feature that would display machine-generated text alongside audiobook narration. The Association of American Publishers and seven publishers sued, arguing that Audible's audiobook licenses did not authorize creation and distribution of text versions of the underlying books. Audible and the publishers resolved the litigation in early 2020. Under the announced resolution, Audible agreed to obtain permission from participating publishers before using Captions for their works; settlement payment details were not publicly disclosed.