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Permissions and Trademark Guidelines

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Permissions and trademark guidelines

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Details on terms and conditions of use applicable to Adobe software are available for review prior to ordering.

General trademark guidelines

You may use Adobe trademarks (but not logos or taglines) to identify Adobe products, services, and programs on packaging, promotional, and advertising materials, provided you adhere to the following guidelines:

  1. You may not incorporate or include Adobe trademarks in your company name, product name, domain name, or in the name of your service.
  2. An appropriate generic term must appear after the trademark the first time it appears in a printed piece, and as often as possible after that. For examples of appropriate generic terms for use with Adobe trademarks, click here.
  3. Your product name may not be confusingly similar to any of Adobe's trademarks.
  4. Your use may not be obscene or pornographic, and may not be disparaging, defamatory, or libelous to Adobe, any of its products, or any other person or entity.
  5. Your use may not directly or indirectly imply Adobe's sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your product or service.
  6. Reference to the Adobe trademark may not be the most prominent visual element on your product or service. Your company name and/or logo, your product or service name, and your graphics should be significantly larger than the reference to Adobe's trademark.
  7. If your use includes references to an Adobe product, the full name of the product must be referenced at the first and most prominent mention (Adobe® GoLive®). When referencing any Adobe trademarks, please mark with a ™ or ® as indicated in the Adobe trademark database for general distribution. If you are distributing materials primarily in Japan, please refer to the separate Adobe Trademark database for Japan.
  8. You may not shorten or abbreviate any of Adobe's trademarks. Always spell and capitalize Adobe's trademarks exactly as they appear in the Adobe trademark database for general distribution.
  9. You include the following trademark attribution statement: "[List of marks used, with "Adobe" first, if used, followed by other Adobe marks used, in alphabetical order] are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries."
  10. You otherwise comply with Guidelines for Third Parties Who Use Adobe's Trademarks (PDF, 69k).

Third-party developers of Adobe plug-ins and extensions may need to comply with additional guidelines. All other requests require written permission. If other permission is required, please either complete the online form or write an e-mail and send it to permissions@adobe.com. Please allow two weeks for your request to be processed.

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Guidelines for third-party developers of Adobe plug-ins and extensions

If you are a developer of an Adobe plug-in or extension, you may use Adobe trademarks in a referential manner on packaging, promotional, and advertising materials to give notice that your product is compatible with the referenced Adobe product or technology, provided you adhere to the following guidelines:

  1. You may not incorporate or include Adobe trademarks in your company name, product name, domain name, or in the name of your service.
  2. Your product name may not be confusingly similar to any of Adobe's trademarks.
  3. If you state that your product is compatible with an Adobe product, the product must in fact be compatible with that Adobe product and otherwise work as intended and described in the documentation of your product with the referenced Adobe product.
  4. Any notice that your product is compatible with an Adobe product or technology must be made in a referential manner such as "for use with," "for," or "compatible with." Example: "Your product name" plug-in for Adobe® Photoshop®; or, ABC extension for Adobe® GoLive®.
  5. You must comply with the general trademark guidelines and the Guidelines for Third Parties Who Use Adobe's Trademarks (PDF: 69k)

Adobe Flash Trademark Guidelines (PDF, 91k)

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Logos

Unless you are licensed by Adobe under a specific licensing program or agreement, use of Adobe logos such as the Adobe corporate logo or Clearly Adobe Imaging logo is not allowed. You may qualify for use of certain logos under the programs offered through Partnering with Adobe. If you are not eligible for any of these logo programs, you may be eligible to use one of Adobe's web logos or a box shot of an Adobe product instead. See box shots or linking to Adobe's website. Or you may choose to simply refer to an Adobe product as described in the section on general trademark guidelines of this website.

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Proper use of the Photoshop trademark

Trademarks help protect corporate and product identity, and Photoshop is one of Adobe's most valuable trademarks. By following the below guidelines, you can help Adobe protect the Photoshop brand name.

The Photoshop trademark must never be used as a common verb or as a noun. The Photoshop trademark should always be capitalized and should never be used in possessive form, or as a slang term. It should be used as an adjective to describe the product, and should never be used in abbreviated form. The following examples illustrate these rules:

Trademarks are not verbs.

CORRECT: The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.

Trademarks are not nouns.

CORRECT: The image pokes fun at the Senator.
INCORRECT: The photoshop pokes fun at the Senator.

Always capitalize and use trademarks in their correct form.

CORRECT: The image was enhanced with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements software.
INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.
INCORRECT: The image was Photoshopped.
INCORRECT: The image was Adobe® Photoshopped.

Trademarks must never be used as slang terms.

CORRECT: Those who use Adobe® Photoshop® software to manipulate images as a hobby see their work as an art form.
INCORRECT: A photoshopper sees his hobby as an art form. INCORRECT: My hobby is photoshopping.

Trademarks must never be used in possessive form.

CORRECT: The new features in Adobe® Photoshop® software are impressive.
INCORRECT: Photoshop's features are impressive.

Trademarks are proper adjectives and should be followed by the generic terms they describe.

CORRECT: The image was manipulated using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
INCORRECT: The image was manipulated using Photoshop.

Trademarks must never be abbreviated.

CORRECT: Take a look at the new features in Adobe® Photoshop® software.
INCORRECT: Take a look at the new features in PS.

The trademark owner should be identified whenever possible.

Adobe and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

For more information on the proper use of Adobe's trademarks, please refer to the general trademark guidelines.

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Proper use of the Flash Trademark

Trademarks help protect corporate and product identity, and Flash is one of Adobe’s most valuable trademarks. By following our guidelines, you can help Adobe protect the Flash brand name. The Flash trademark must never be used as a common verb, as a noun, or as a generic term for animation, video or to describe the output format. The Flash trademark should always be capitalized and should never be used in possessive form or as a slang term. It should be used as an adjective to describe the product and should never be used in abbreviated form.

These guidelines have been developed to help our partners and customers who use or refer to Adobe’s Flash family of products.

For more information on the proper use of Adobe Flash, please refer to Adobe Flash Trademark Guidelines (PDF, 91k)

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Use of Adobe trademarks in titles of books

Adobe trademarks may be used in the titles of books, in printed form, that provide in-depth training on Adobe products beyond that available from Adobe product tutorials and reference material. Publishers of such books need not obtain express permission from Adobe if the use of Adobe trademarks complies with all of the following guidelines:

  1. The Adobe trademarks may not appear larger or more prominent than the rest of the full book title.
  2. The Adobe trademarks may not be used in the stylized form used by Adobe, and no Adobe logos or product or box shots may be used on your book's cover, advertising, promotional material, or otherwise, without express written permission from Adobe.
  3. You may not shorten or abbreviate any of Adobe's trademarks. Always spell and capitalize Adobe's trademarks exactly as they appear in the Adobe trademark database for general distribution (PDF: 43k). If you are distributing materials primarily in Japan, please contact the Adobe Legal Department for the appropriate marking requirements.
  4. You include the following trademark attribution statement: "[List of marks used, with "Adobe" first, if used, followed by other Adobe marks used, in alphabetical order] are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries."
  5. You include a conspicuous disclaimer, preferably on the front or back cover of the book, but at a minimum it must appear on the copyright page of the book and state in all capital letters: THIS PRODUCT IS NOT ENDORSED OR SPONSORED BY ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED, PUBLISHER OF [INSERT ADOBE PRODUCT NAME(S)].
  6. You otherwise comply with Guidelines for Third Parties Who Use Adobe's Trademarks (PDF: 69k).
  7. There is nothing else in the use of Adobe trademarks or in the circumstances that would lead consumers to believe there is an association with, or endorsement by, Adobe that does not exist, and the Adobe trademarks are used only to refer to the Adobe products that are the subject of the book.

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