Fair Trade Commission Corrects Unfair Terms in Audiobook Contracts of Millie's Library and Willa

Fair Trade Commission Reviews Terms of Service for Millie's Library, Willa, Kyobo Bookstore, Storytel, and Audion Sound

The Fair Trade Commission announced that it has improved unfair terms and conditions of five audiobook subscription service providers, including Millie's Library and Willa. They revised clauses that did not provide refunds even when there was no usage history of the content after subscribing to the audiobook subscription service.

On the 18th, the Fair Trade Commission reviewed the terms and conditions of five audiobook subscription service providers?Millie's Library, Willa, Kyobo Bookstore, Storytel, and Audion Sound?and corrected 11 types of unfair terms.

One major unfair term was a clause restricting refunds for consumers who did not use audiobook content. It was deemed unfair to limit refunds on the grounds that the subscription had started or that the 7-day withdrawal period under the Electronic Commerce Act had passed, even though the service was not used at all, as this restricts the member's right to cancel according to the law.

The Fair Trade Commission judged that restricting refunds because the subscription had started or the 7-day withdrawal period had passed, even when consumers did not use the service at all, infringes on the legally guaranteed right of members to cancel and is therefore unfair. The service providers accepted the Commission’s recommendations and revised their terms to fully refund if the subscription is canceled within 7 days or if there is no usage history, and to refund after deducting the amount corresponding to the usage days and 10% of the remaining period’s usage fee if canceled after 7 days.

The clause on "hidden renewal," which stipulated that free trial subscribers would automatically be converted to paid subscriptions if they did not cancel before the first payment date, was also revised. This clause assumed members’ consent to automatic conversion to paid subscription after the free trial. The Fair Trade Commission viewed this as a type of online dark pattern that could lead consumers to use unwanted services through automatic payment. Accordingly, the providers deleted the clause that presumed consent to paid conversion and modified the terms to notify customers in advance about the paid conversion and payment amount during free trial registration and to obtain separate consent.

During this investigation, all audiobook subscription service providers voluntarily corrected the unfair terms. The Fair Trade Commission stated, "Through this revision of terms, we expect to proactively prevent damages to audiobook subscription consumers," and added, "We will continue to monitor unfair terms in the content subscription service sector."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.