Acrobat XI Pro licenses revoked

[DShackelford]

I'm working with a small law firm that had four copies of Acrobat 9 Pro and upgraded them in 2014 to Acrobat XI Pro. They have to stay at that version due to a line-of-business app they use. They purchased the upgrade through TigerDirect, who coordinated the purchase with Adobe. I have the confirmation email from Adobe that was generated at the time of purchase.

Now we're trying to reinstall on a new workstation after the old one died, and after installing the old Adobe 9 Pro and then upgrading to Acrobat XI Pro, we're getting a "License Revoked" error when putting in the serial number.

If I go to the licensing site, I can generate the certificate that shows the Order Number, Purchase Order, Serial Number and all the rest. It shows up in my Downloads list. It lists as being from the TLP 5.0 License Program - Corporate.

I spent 70 minutes waiting on hold with licensing support today and eventually ended up talking to someone who sounded like he was on a street corner in Mumbai. I could barely understand what was being said, but the gist was that our purchase was not with an authorized seller, and that our license couldn't be honored.

How does this make any sense? What can we do?

[ProDesignTools]

Hi, Adobe-authorized resellers are listed here:

https://www.adobe.com/partners/partnerfinders.html

You may want to check where you purchased from and make sure it's there... You definitely want to avoid any vendor not listed there. If not, then it's the responsibility of whoever you purchased it from.

Other than that, this is a user-to-user Forum – so we don't really have the power to help you further here, unfortunately... The only folks who have control over licensing issues is Adobe Customer Care themselves. 

[Dov Isaacs]

This is a user community, not Adobe Customer Support. We cannot assist you here because we have no access to customer records much less ability to remedy those types of problems.

For licensing issues, please contact Adobe Customer Support directly by phone per https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/phone.html and immediately ask to speak with a supervisor. There is clearly a more complex issue that needs to be resolved than can be handled by first level support personnel.

That having been said, one source of the “licensed revoked” error generally occurs when Adobe detects misuse of a serial number, possibly the serial number somehow being used by someone outside your organization to try to activate bootleg copies of the software. The other source of such a message may be derived from the type of license you have. TLP may be a term license which is only good for a set period of time (depending upon the actual license), after which it is invalid. That's why you need to speak with someone higher up in the hierarchy who can actually determine what type of license you have and why you can no longer activate Acrobat Pro 11 with it.

Good luck!

[Clayton36482981uccr · Accepted solution]

"Adobe no longer provides phone support for these products"

...

[defaultvbyqc52y1htj]

This same thing is now happening to me.  Our school purchased 300 licenses for Adobe CS6 from MacMall.  A few months ago we started getting "License Revoked" errors just like you.  The reason I'm replying is becuase I fear you will not get any help like I did, and because it is tangentally related as the company we purchased our license from (MacMall) is now TigerDirect.

I started with chat, then was told to call (like below.)  So I called, then was told to send them a copy of the purchase order linked to the serial number.  I did that.  I was then told that PCM-G is not an authorized reseller and that they can't re-enable the serial number.

I told them there must be a mistake.  I was sent the same link below.  So I did a search.  PCM Logistics, LLC is listed as an Authorized Seller.  I tell the support tech, and they tell me that PCM-G and PCM Logistics are not the same company.  I then send back a picture of PCM-G and PCM Logistics physical mailing address, and they are identical.  But Adobe insists that PCM-G and PCM Logistics, LLC are not the same company, despite PCM Logistics themselves stating that MacMall, PCMall, PCM-G, and PCM Logistics, LLC are indeed all the same company.

It is quite obvious to everyone except Adobe that when you purchase Adobe Software via PCMall, MacMall, TigerDirect, or PCM-G, that all their Adobe licnesing is handled by their logistics division: PCM Logistics, LLC, which is an Authorize Adobe Reseller.

My support ticket was closed and I have no further recourse.  I called TigerDirect and they said they would talk to their Adobe Relations Team, but I haven't heard back yet.  I am hopeful TigerDirect can work this out somehow.

Despite physical proof that we purchased 300 licenses and that PCM Logistics, LLC is the same company as PCM-G, Adobe still refuses to reinstate our licenses.

[ProDesignTools]

Sorry to hear you're having trouble. As posted above, standing behind the validity of the licenses is the responsibility of whoever you purchased it from. If a vendor cannot do that without a doubt, then they shouldn't be selling licenses.

Hope that your situation can work out in your case, perhaps with the help of talking to supervisors.

[defaultvbyqc52y1htj]

This is an Adobe issue, not a vendor issue.  We were shipped physical media with a 300 seat license.  Every year we erase the computers and reinstall the software using the Enterprise Installer.  Perhaps it thinks its pirated because we do that?  I don't know.

The fact remains that Adobe refuses to acknowledge that PCM-G and PCM Logistics, LLC are the same company.  So regardless of the reason why it was revoked, there doesn't appear to be any recourse when the gatekeeper of the license gets to dictate symantecs.

[ProDesignTools]

If a vendor can't prove to both you and Adobe that the licenses they sold you were legitimate (the vendor took your money, after all), then there's a problem.

[signkids]

I have had the exact same issue today.  I have two licenses and one I have used probably close to 10 years.  Lost the CD a few years ago and called Adobe, they were able to pull up the serial number and give me a software download link.  Now they are telling me that it is not a guine (sp) copy!  I think they are revolking the older serial numbers to force us into a subscription.  This is WRONG!  

[defaultvbyqc52y1htj]

That's the truth of the matter.  This issue was never resolved, by the way.  We purchased a retail copy of Creative Cloud 6.  It came with a couple DVDs (Windows and MacOS version) and the registration card with 2 stickers (one was affixed to the DVD itself).  Despite sending them pictures of the physical media, the serial number stickers, and a copy of the invoice (with another copy from Tiger Direct), proving that the various companies were subsidiaries AND a licensed Adobe reseller, they still refused to reinstate the serial number.

Adobe has no incentive to allow customers to utilize perpetual licenses when they can fabricate reasons to invalidate them and lock users into subscription plans.  In all honesty, if I was in a position to drop Adobe and go with something else, I would do that.

[Peter366335627mwp]

There are plenty of third party options for PDFs at resaonsable prices.  The same thing happen to me after about 10 years of using Adobe XI obtained from a university.  Now they want us to discard a perfectly good product and upgrade to their new boated stuff. ONce you are not connected through the university network you loose everything.  Adobe have adapted the printer cartridge model for software.  So bye bye Adobe.