Adobe Strong-Arms Older Creative Cloud App Users With Sketchy Letters Threatening Legal Issues
Adobe is one of the biggest names in software for creating and editing photos and video. The company's Creative Cloud apps, including Photoshop, Premiere Photo, and Lightroom are the apps that most people are familiar with. However, users of older versions of Adobe Creative Cloud apps, including Photoshop, are being told to stop using these out-of-date versions or they could face infringement claims from third-party companies.
Adobe hasn't named the third party company, but word on the street is that Dolby has brought the infringement claims against Adobe CC. Adobe has stated that ongoing litigation is the reason it is warning users to stop using certain versions of its apps.
Adobe said in a statement that it sent AppleInsider that it had "recently discontinued" older versions of Creative cloud apps. It says that customers on those older versions have been notified they are no longer licensed to use them and were given guidance on upgrading to the latest authorized versions. Users on the older versions of the apps are receiving email from Adobe warning them that the apps they are using are being discontinued.
Adobe has stated via Twitter that it can't comment on claims of third-party infringement because it concerns ongoing litigation. Adobe and Dolby are currently embroiled in a suit that was filed in March 2019 with Dolby seeking a jury trial against Adobe for copyright infringement and breach of contract. The lawsuit comes down to Adobe refusing to allow third-party auditing of the number of users running software that uses Dolby technology.
In a legal complaint, Dolby stated:
When Dolby sought to exercise its right to audit Adobe’s books and records to ensure proper reporting and payment, Adobe refused to engage in even basic auditing and information sharing practices; practices that Adobe itself had demanded of its own licensees.
Adobe apparently determined that it was better to spend years withholding this information from Dolby than to allow Dolby to understand the full scope of Adobe’s contractual breaches.
This seems to be pretty intense beef between Adobe and Dolby, and one that sees Adobe customers being caught in the middle. Perhaps Adobe is just trying to cover its own butt by stating that customers could be in legal jeopardy by using older software, but we can't really see Dolby coming after individual customers at this point.
