[LOCKED] Account blocked 2023

[Guest]

The account has been blocked today without any reason. I am selling for years, and never had any issues. Now the big bang mail arrived and I am not happy. 

1. I pay for Photoshop and Lightroom

2. I still got money in my account - is that gone now? 

3. Sending such emails to contributors is not the fine way I would say. No reasons, just a standard without any content.

So what to do? Yes, I wrote to contributor-support@adobe.com asking for a reason.

For now, I just have the idea that I did something wrong while using a MOCKUP that I bought on Adobe Stock. I was creating something new (in my view) putting a graphic that I created onto the MOCKUP (display on a laptop). Is that wrong? Is that the reason they blocked my account?

Does anyone of you get any idea if my "MOCKUP-Job" was something Adobe does not like? I have to say, I sold a lot of these kinds of new creations (buy a MockUp - create new content cause that a MockUp is for - upload). Never had the intention to harm anyone or do something illegally. 

However. Let's see what will happen.

I really hope I will not lose the money that is still in the account. The best would be if they will give me a reason so that I can change the way I work in the future and reopen my account.

Best Max_Images 

aka Max

p.s. sorry I am not a native English speaker

[Jill_C]

There is no way for fellow Contributors to know why your account was blocked and what specific action you took to cause it to be blocked. All you can do is wait for a response from Adobe. 

[Guest]

Thanks, mate! I will do so. I just was wondering if the MOCKUP could be the reason. Let's see. Enjoy the evening though!

[George_F]

Only Adobe will know the exact reason for the account suspension.  The only thing to do is to email Contributor Support which you've already done.  Now you must wait for their response.  They should in a few days with a bit more detail and then they will do an investigation.  Make sure to check your spam folder.

The investigation might take several weeks.  One user reported 4 weeks.  The only thing to do now is to be patient and wait for Adobe to work through their process.

I hope this is just a misunderstanding 🙂

[Guest]

Well George, thank you too for taking the time to write your thoughts. Really mad about the situation cause I need the sellings and hope there will be a solution. At least the money that is in the account would be nice though. Have a good time and always have enough light and a clean sensor 🙂

[Nancy OShea]

"Now the big bang mail arrived and I am not happy."

==========

Don't be mad.  What did the mail say?

I don't see how a mockup would cause your account to be terminated.  More likely there was some suspcious activity occuring in your account before this happened.  Or maybe someone filed an official complaint. 

If the latter, it may take several weeks for the investigation to conclude.  It's a process.  Be patient, be cooperative.  If Adobe asks for information, give it to them.

Good luck.

[Guest]

Dear Nancy,

sure I will cooperate with all information I can provide like RAW and any fine data. I am not looking for any trouble though.

I had a reply to my request yesterday evening by mail from Adobe. It seems the MockUp is the reason. Honestly, I am a little confused because the concept of a MockUp is to create something new with it. That is what I have on my mind using such MockUp. Anyways. They now check my portfolio. That's a lot to check but I am free from any bad thoughts because I never did anything bad or even illegal. 

At the same time, there are still selling. Today I got another sales report. Curious ...

Anyways I told Adobe that I bought the MockUp and created something new. Let's see what will happen. If they close my account I am ok with that as long as they pay me the amount that is still in my account. I already talked to a copyright lawyer and he told me I did nothing wrong as long as I use the Mockup to create something different and WILL NOT sell the same art work as I bought it. 

It is very interesting to ask oneself where the line crosses copyright. Imagine one buys two images. Let's say an image of a mountain and a sky. Using Photoshop to create a composition out of them both. Is that ok or against copyright? 

I will keep this thread updated. So far I will not use any MockUps anymore to create content. Better use my camera and do everything from scratch. From that point of view, I am happy knowing what to do in the future without risking any problems like this. Let's stay positive 😉

And again I am not looking for any trouble here. I am an honest person and never wanted to harm anyone or do something illegal. 

Good day to everyone. Enjoy creating and life itself.

Max

[Test Screen Name]

"Imagine one buys two images. Let's say an image of a mountain and a sky. Using Photoshop to create a composition out of them both. Is that ok or against copyright? "  I'm not a lawyer, but let's just look at this. First, with Adobe Stock you don't buy images; Adobe don't sell them. Rather you buy a license, and Adobe sell licenses. This controls what you can do, and also protects the maker of Stock.

So, you are asking: if you licensed two stock images (mountain and sky). Could you use these images in Photoshop? Sure. Could you use them in an advert, on a web site, in a film? Sure, if the license allows.

Could you upload this image to sell as stock? Here I am not sure. My instincts say NO, but I can't find anything in the terms and conditions. Can anyone throw more light on this specific example?

[Test Screen Name]

Actually, I think I have an answer for my own question, but as I say I am not a lawyer, and I'd welcome more insight. Copyright is the key. Often work has many copyrights. Let's take this imaginary picture made from Stock images of sky and mountain. Do you have copyright on this picture? Yes. But ALSO the maker of the photo of the sky has copyright and the maker of the photo of the mountain has copyright. So now it is an image with three copyrights. So, you cannot upload it to stock, because for stock you must own ALL the copyright.

So it would be with mock-ups in Stock. You can download them and use them for many purposes. You can use the mock-up to make a new design with some new elements of your work, and use it as per the license. But you do NOT own all of the copyright of this new design, so you MUST NOT try to sell it as stock - it would need you to make a false claim to own the copyright! (Or, you would need property releases for every other copyright image, from the original owner of the copyright - Adobe could not give you such a release). I don't know if that applies to your case, of course.

Another way to think of this... imagine someone licensed one of your photos, printed it, put it on a table, photographed the table with the picture, and said "this is my image now" and sold it in Stock ... would you be happy?

[Guest]

Another way to think of this... imagine someone licensed one of your photos, printed it, put it on a table, photographed the table with the picture, and said "this is my image now" and sold it in Stock ... would you be happy?

I would not care cause the person paid for the image. Anyways I will skip wasting time on that. It is how it is. MUCH MORE important is, that Adobe keeps my cash. They owned a lot on my portfolio that is 99% made by me and not by a single MockUp. We are talking about one single MockUp-Job at least. I understand the point. If they will pay out the value that is still in my account I am fine and will not ask for a second chance. I learned my lesson for sure. But it would also be nice to make THOSE things much clear for others that might step into the same situation. For years I uploaded and both sides made their profit. I was always happy with Adobe and will not blame them for my mistakes. As I said I will let you know when it came to a final solution - positive or negative.

[Jill_C]

Read the contributor T&C's. If you violated those in any way, you are unlikely to get a second chance.

[Guest]

I do not take it too seriously let's say. It is just Adobe it is just about selling licenses. It is not fighting in a war or fighting for life though. It was fun using Adobe but nothing else anymore. I now plan to skip all Adobe products. Time to make a change. Always looking forward to new and maybe better solutions. T&C’s can be read or understood in many ways. In the end, it is Adobe who creates the "rules". If they do not pay the amount in my account, I will find a way. Both sides got their rules not only us as contributors. Everything else is not what I care for anymore. I now will move my portfolio to my Getty account. Many ways to create good content and much more to sell it. I am not a slave to this company. We are human, and we all do mistakes. And as I said before I never wanted to harm anyone or steal. I did just a mistake.

I am sure that at least 50% of the stock composings on Adobe Stock are the same as the MockUp I made.

[AbedIbrahim]

@George_F  I'm reporting 4 months.

[Guest]

Finally, Adobe terminated the account WITHOUT paying me!!! Time for a lawyer. To terminate for a reason is fine but I still got money in the account.

[Jill_C · Accepted solution]

Perhaps you should reread the Adobe Stock Contributor Agreement before you spend money on an attorney:

"8. Termination and Survival
8.1 Termination. We may terminate these Additional Terms, remove any Work, or suspend your account, without prior notice. We will have no payment obligation to you if we terminate these Additional Terms for cause. By way of example, you may not download Adobe Stock content for the primary purpose of artificially inflating the number of downloads of content by a given contributor or for the primary purpose of artificially triggering payments. "