Editing Adobe Inc. (section)

===Anti-competitive practices===
In 1994, Adobe acquired Aldus Corp., a software vendor that sold FreeHand, a competing product.<ref name="law360"/><ref name="twff"/> [[Adobe FreeHand|FreeHand]] was direct competition to [[Adobe Illustrator]], Adobe's flagship vector-graphics editor.<ref name="law360">{{cite web|url=http://www.law360.com/articles/243049/adobe-hit-with-class-action-over-freehand-app|title=Adobe Hit With Class Action Over FreeHand App|first=Dan|last=Rivoli|date=May 3, 2011|publisher=Law360}}</ref><ref name="twff"/> The [[Federal Trade Commission]] (FTC) intervened and forced Adobe to sell FreeHand back to Altsys, and also banned Adobe from buying back FreeHand or any similar program for the next 10 years (1994–2004).<ref name="law360"/><ref name="twff"/> Altsys was then bought by [[Macromedia]], which released versions 5 to 11.<ref name="twff"/> When Adobe acquired Macromedia in December 2005, it stalled development of [[Adobe FreeHand|FreeHand]] in 2007, effectively rendering it obsolete.<ref name="law360"/><ref name="cwff">{{cite web|url=http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/it-vendors/adobe-sued-by-freehand-user-group-3280625/|title=Adobe sued by FreeHand user group|date=May 1, 2011|publisher=[[Computerworld]] UK}}</ref> With FreeHand and Illustrator, Adobe controlled the only two products that compete in the professional illustration program market for Macintosh operating systems.<ref name="law360"/>

In 2011, a group of 5,000 FreeHand graphic designers convened under the banner ''Free FreeHand'', and filed a civil antitrust complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of California against Adobe.<ref name="law360"/><ref name="twff">{{cite web|url=http://www.techworld.com/news/apps/adobe-accused-of-software-monopoly-not-by-apple-3222555/|title=Adobe accused of software monopoly (not by Apple)|first=Lexton|last=Snol|date=May 5, 2010|publisher=Tech World}}</ref><ref name="quarkff">{{cite web|url=http://www.planetquark.com/2011/05/05/adobe-sued-for-killing-freehand/|title=Adobe Sued for Killing FreeHand|first=Jay|last=Nelson|date=May 3, 2011|publisher=Planet Quark|access-date=April 15, 2016|archive-date=April 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425214709/http://www.planetquark.com/2011/05/05/adobe-sued-for-killing-freehand/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="macff">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.macworld.com/article/1159949/freehand_lawsuit.html|title=FreeHand users sue Adobe for 'killing' the application|date=May 1, 2011|magazine=[[Macworld]]}}</ref> The suit alleged that:

<blockquote>''Adobe has violated federal and state antitrust laws by abusing its dominant position in the professional vector graphic illustration software market [...] Adobe has engaged in a series of exclusionary and anti-competitive acts and strategies designed to kill FreeHand, the dominant competitor to Adobe's Illustrator software product, instead of competing on the basis of product merit according to the principals of free market capitalism.''<ref name="law360"/><ref name="quarkff"/><ref name="macff"/></blockquote>

Adobe had no response to the claims and the lawsuit was eventually settled.<ref name="law360"/><ref name="cwff"/> The FreeHand community believes Adobe should release the product to an open-source community if it cannot update it internally.<ref name="twff"/>

{{as of|2010}}, on its FreeHand product page, Adobe stated, "While we recognize FreeHand has a loyal customer base, we encourage users to migrate to the new Adobe Illustrator CS4 software which supports both PowerPC and Intel–based Macs and Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista." {{as of|2016}}, the FreeHand page no longer exists; instead, it simply redirects to the Illustrator page. Adobe's software FTP server still contains a directory for FreeHand, but it is empty.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-11-15 |title=Re: Folder does not appear to point to site |url=https://community.adobe.com/t5/muse-discussions/folder-does-not-appear-to-point-to-site/m-p/6590333#M3934 |access-date=2023-09-10 |website= |language=en}}</ref>