Adobe Tells Users They Can Get Sued for Using Old Versions of Photoshop

Karl Bode, reporting for Vice:

Adobe is warning some owners of its Creative Cloud software applications that they’re no longer allowed to use older versions of the software. It’s yet another example of how in the modern era, you increasingly don’t actually own the things you’ve spent your hard-earned money on.

Adobe this week began sending some users of its Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, Premiere, Animate, and Media Director programs a letter warning them that they were no longer legally authorized to use the software they may have thought they owned.

“We have recently discontinued certain older versions of Creative Cloud applications and and a result, under the terms of our agreement, you are no longer licensed to use them,” Adobe said in the email. “Please be aware that should you continue to use the discontinued version(s), you may be at risk of potential claims of infringement by third parties.”

Users were less than enthusiastic about the sudden restrictions.

The reason behind this seem to be ongoing litigation but users should not be subjected to this sort of treatment. I have been using Adobe products for at least 20 years and the only reason I’m still paying them money is Lightroom — nobody else has anything close to it in terms of functionality. That does not mean that I’m happy with what I’m paying for…

My current Photography Plan consists of:

Lightroom Classic (which I use)

Lightroom CC (which I don’t use)

Photoshop (which I don’t need)

20 GB of cloud storage (which I don’t use; also, 20 GB would allow me to store around 200 RAW files, where each file is around 100 MB — laughable)

I just want Lightroom Classic and I couldn’t care less about the rest, yet I am forced to pay for unused features. Adobe’s Creative Cloud is a very frustrating experience.