I went through every document from my arbitration with Adobe. The demand letters. The legal filings. The arbitrator’s ruling. All of it.
What I found shouldn’t surprise me anymore. But it did. Not because I didn’t live it; I did; but because when you see it all laid out, I just can’t believe a company built on creators takes these positions.
Here are 9 things Adobe actually said or argued about creators and your rights. In their own words. From their own legal filings available in court documents.
Receipt #1: The Double Standard
They introduce and remove context to suit their need while hurting all creators.
“New features and services [to promote my work]” – they said explicit consent doesn’t matter and language is broad enough to cover anything they want to do, including AI training.
“Revenue share” – even though the contract explicitly states this, they add new context to say they don’t have to pay me. Same contract. Same words. Two different standards.
Source: Multiple docs
Receipt #2: Your Work Is “Uncopyrightable”
Adobe argued my copyrighted images are “premised on uncopyrightable and unprotected ideas, concepts, principles, or familiar symbols.” They licensed it. Sold it. Trained AI on it. Then called it unprotectable.
This one hits deep because what they are saying is, a photographer taking a photo shouldn’t be able to copyright that photo and therefore cannot protect their work.
Source: Adobe Defense #6
Receipt #3: You Weren’t Harmed
Adobe argued my claims are “barred by lack of standing or lack of injury.” Nearly 12,000 images in their AI and according to Adobe - no harm.
Source: Adobe Defense #12
Receipt #4: Just Leave
Adobe told me to “remove the content from Adobe Stock” if I disagreed. As if deleting images un-trains an AI model.
Source: Email from Adobe
Receipt #5: You Might Owe Us
Adobe cited the indemnification clause - the creator indemnifies Adobe. By challenging them, I could theoretically owe them money. The protection only flows one direction.
Source: Adobe Defense #14
Receipt #6: The Most You’d Get Is $10,000.
The contract caps Adobe’s liability at $10,000. For nearly 12,000 images permanently in their AI. Conservative calculated damages: $5,690,400.
Source: Multiple Docs
Receipt #7: “We Were Well Within Our Rights”
Adobe’s stated plainly: “Adobe was well within its rights to use your client’s Work in AI training datasets.” That’s what “we support creators” sounds like when the lawyers are talking.
Source: Response to Demand
Receipt #8: “Transformative Intermediate Copying”
Adobe’s lawyers called training AI on my images “a transformative intermediate copying that is widely acknowledged to constitute a fair use.” Curated images of underrepresented communities, reduced to “intermediate copying.”
Source: Response to Demand
Receipt #9: You Breached the Agreement, Not Us
Adobe argued my claims are “barred by its breach of the 2018 Stock Contributor Agreement” - claiming I violated the co-exclusivity provision. They used my work for a purpose never discussed and then said I’m the one who broke the deal.
Source: Adobe Defense #11
These are Adobe’s own words. From their own lawyers. In their own legal filings. I’m not interpreting. I’m not paraphrasing. This is what they said.
Over the next 9 weeks, I’m going to break down each receipt in detail. One per week. What it means in plain English. What it means for every creator. And what you can do about it.
All receipts are on my Receipts page - a permanent archive that will be updated with each deep dive. Link below.
“In their own words. From their own lawyers. In their own legal filings.”
