Permissions and trademark guidelines

Trademark guidelines

• General trademark guidelines
• Guidelines for third-party developers of Adobe plug-ins and extensions
• Logos
• Proper use of the AIR trademark
• Proper use of the Flash trademark
• Proper use of the Photoshop trademark
• Use of Adobe trademarks in titles of books
• Other resources
• List of Adobe trademarks (PDF, 173K)
• Guidelines for third parties who use Adobe trademarks (print version) (PDF, 69K)
• Guidelines for third parties who use Adobe trademarks (web version) (PDF, 69K)
• Adobe Flash Programs trademark guidelines (PDF, 3.1M)

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 any Adobe trademark in your company name, product or service name, or domain name.
2. An appropriate generic term must appear after an Adobe trademark the first time it appears in a printed piece and as often as possible after that. See examples of appropriate generic terms for use with Adobe trademarks.
3. Your product name may not be confusingly similar to any Adobe trademark.
4. You may not use any Adobe trademark on or in connection with any obscene or pornographic materials, and your use of any Adobe trademark may not be disparaging, defamatory, or libelous to Adobe, any of its products, or any person or entity.
5. You may not use Adobe trademarks in any manner that directly or indirectly expresses or implies Adobe sponsorship, affiliation, certification, approval, or endorsement in relation to your product or service or in such a manner that it appears that Adobe is legally associated with your company.
6. You may not use any Adobe trademark, including web logos or any other Adobe logo trademark, on or in connection with a website that provides download links for a fee (whether directly or indirectly via a subscription model or the like) for any Adobe product or service, especially for freeware, such as Adobe® Reader® software or an Adobe web player product, without the express written permission of Adobe.
7. Reference to an Adobe trademark may not be the most prominent visual element on packaging or other marketing materials for your product or service. Your company name and/or logo, your product or service name, and your graphic identity should be significantly larger than any reference to an Adobe trademark.
8. 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® Acrobat®). When referencing any Adobe trademark, please mark with a ™ or ® as indicated in the Adobe trademark database for general distribution.
9. You may not shorten or abbreviate any Adobe trademark. Always spell out and capitalize Adobe's trademarks exactly as they appear in the Adobe trademark database for general distribution.
10. You should 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."
11. Your use of Adobe trademarks must otherwise comply with the 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, either complete the online form or send an e-mail 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 Dreamweaver®."
5. You must comply with the general trademark guidelines and the Guidelines for third parties who use Adobe's trademarks (PDF: 69K)

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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 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 general trademark guidelines.

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Proper use of the AIR trademark

Trademarks help protect corporate and product identity, and the AIR® trademark is one of Adobe's most valuable trademarks. By following the below guidelines, you can help Adobe protect the AIR brand name. The AIR trademark must never be used as a common verb, as a noun, or as a generic term for a kind of application. The AIR trademark should always be in uppercase letters and should never be used in possessive form. It should be used as an adjective to describe the Adobe AIR® client runtime and related developer tools from Adobe.

AIR and Adobe AIR are trademarks of Adobe Systems.

You cannot use the AIR or Adobe AIR trademark:

• in the title of your application
• as your company or trade or dba name
• in your domain name
• in your service name
• if it is related to Adobe's AIR runtime software (for example, if your application was created for the Adobe AIR runtime or your website features applications developed for the Adobe AIR runtime), except under written license from Adobe

You can refer to your application as an "Adobe AIR application" only as a statement that your developer application interoperates with Adobe AIR runtime software.

Correct: XYZ WidgetMaker for Adobe® AIR®
Correct: XYZ WidgetMaker: An Adobe® AIR® application
Correct: XYZ WidgetMaker: An application for Adobe® AIR®
Correct: XYZ WidgetMaker: Works with Adobe® AIR®

In the examples above, your own brand must appear larger and more conspicuous than the Adobe trademark, so that no one will be confused or misled as to the source of your product.

Incorrect: XYZ AIR WidgetMaker
Incorrect: ABC Adobe AIR WidgetMaker
Incorrect: AIRCool
Incorrect: AIRrific

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Proper use of the Flash trademark

Trademarks help protect corporate and product identity, and the Flash® trademark 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 or 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 the Adobe Flash trademark, please refer to the Adobe Flash trademark guidelines (PDF, 91K).

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Proper use of the Photoshop trademark

Trademarks help protect corporate and product identity, and the Photoshop trademark 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 new 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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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 shots 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 out and capitalize Adobe's trademarks exactly as they appear in the Adobe trademark database for general distribution (PDF: 173K). 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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Other resources

End-user license terms

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

Terms of use

Read terms and conditions for material displayed on Adobe.com.

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