moderator]Adobe has flagged my licensed product as 'Pirated' - I'm pissed.

[russellbdavis]

I was accused of 'pirating' my licensed software.[Edited by moderator]

I purchased a new PC that arrived 2 days ago. I failed to deactivate CS6 on my old PC before installing on my new PC. Once installed, I realized I made a mistake with the new PC purchase, restored it to factory delivered condition and returned it to Amazon and received its replacement yesterday. Once again, I failed to deactivate CS6 before restoring the new one to factory delivered condition.

When the new PC arrived, I once again installed CS6 to be told I had exceeded the install limit; which is true. I sought assistance with Adobe because of my mistake. I was immediately accused of 'pirating' the software by someone named 'Nikin', and was told the license key had been disabled because of that and I could no longer use it.

If I was using an illegal copy, I sure would not be reaching out to Adobe to reset it. I still have the original purchase email and provided that to 'Nikin' who still ignored my legal status for the product and was only interested in selling me a subscription. I have no interest in a subscription.

I also had to change my registered email with my acount because after 20 years, I no longer have COX as my ISP; I guess that triggered my 'pirate' status.

[John T Smith]

Did you buy from Adobe or some other vendor?

[russellbdavis]

I am a member of TECHSOUP.ORG, a supported site for Adobe donations such as CS6. I purchased through them for my 501(c)3 Charitable Organization, Merry Heart Guidance Center, on January 9, 2014. I've installed, uninstalled, reinstalled many times in the past 7 years after purchasing new PC equipment.

[russellbdavis]

9 years that is...

[kglad]

after checking the link in my previous message, if that's no help, contact techsoup.org and let them know the serial number they sold has been revoked.

[Nancy OShea]

9 years is a very long time. CS6 had a shelf-life of 3-5 years max. You got your money's worth and then some.  😁

The good news is TechSoup still partners with Adobe on it's subscription products.  That might be the best/only option now.

[Russell38235186xl79]

Since Adobe has went to a 'subscription' only business model, I don't do subscriptions. Thanks, but no thanks.

[Nancy OShea]

Since Adobe has went to a 'subscription' only business model, I don't do subscriptions. Thanks, but no thanks.

By @Russell38235186xl79

=========

Good luck finding a software that doesn't have a subscription model these days. It's become an industry-wide practice for a lot of reasons:

• Disks are dead.
• Modern computers don't have optical readers anymore.  😓
• Subscriptions can't be pirated or corrupted as easily as disks could.

[kglad]

failing to deactivate and changing isp are both unrelated to a flagged serial number.

if your serial number was flagged, it's usually not because of anything you did, but because of something the vendor did.  the only thing you could have done to cause a valid serial number to be flagged would be to "allow" your serial number to be posted in public.  ie, if you shared your serial number, that would trigger the problem. but most likely, you did not do that.  

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/invalid-revoked-serial-numbers.html

[Jackiejack85]

This is not true. I have had my genuine serial number revoked twice, I'm currently dealing with this nightmare now, even though I bought directly from Adobe and never shared my serials.

[kglad]

what's not true?

[Nancy OShea]

CS6 is discontinued, obsolete software that no longer exists.

Adobe pulled CS software down in early 2017.  It's not legally available from any vendor, retailer or country.

If you had an OEM product, it's only valid on the original machine it came with.  OEM licenses cannot be transfered to other machines.

Photoshop Elements or Premiere Elements (approx $100, no subscription needed).
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html

Creative Cloud Photography Plan (approx $10/month for 12 months). Includes the following:

• Photoshop CC and Photoshop on iPad
• Camera Raw
• Lightroom on desktop, mobile and the web
• Lightroom Classic
• Portfolio website + hosting
• Adobe Express (free starter plan)
• Bridge
• 20 GB cloud storage (upgradable to 1 TB).
• Free upgrades for paid subscribers

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.html

Premium Adobe Express ($10/month).

• Adobe Express app (web and mobile)
• Premiere Rush (video editing on desktop and mobile)
• Photoshop Express (mobile)
• Spark Video (mobile)
• Spark Page (mobile)
• Adobe Portfolio + hosting
• 100 GB of cloud storage
• All premium templates and design assets including the collection of over 160 million royalty-free Adobe Stock photo collection.

https://helpx.adobe.com/express/using/express-overview.html

Creative Cloud All Apps (51 + pro apps & services) and Single App Plans
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html

[Jackiejack85]

This is not helpful advice to people who have purchased a PERPETUAL license. If this is how Adobe treat their paying customers, why would we give them more money?

[Nancy OShea]

This is not helpful advice to people who have purchased a PERPETUAL license.

By @Jackiejack85

==========

Did you read your product's End User License Agreement (EULA)? 

https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/cc/en/legal/licenses-terms/pdf/CS6.pdf

Legacy CS6 was never a 'forever' license.  At best, it had a 3-5 year shelf-life.  After that, you used it at your own risk. 

12+ year old software may or may not work on modern equipment and operating systems. Unfortunately, that's the risk you take with older software.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Jackiejack, my apologies for any confusion. Do you have a case number from your interaction with our support team? Please see https://adobe.ly/3VGciiK for information on locating and updating your recent support case.

I reviewed the license for Creative Suite 6 Design Standard under your account. The serial number is still valid, and you have activations remaining.

Did you transfer any files or applications to the new computer, Jackiejack? Invalid serial numbers and false activation limits being reached often occur when the licensing and activation files are transferred from one computer to another. You can download and run the CC Cleaner Tool from https://adobe.ly/3zp19eJ. Please also see https://adobe.ly/3zgYDY4  for information on how to download a fresh copy of the installation files from your account. ^JW