I received the following from Adobe. Can anybody explain 1) what this is all about? 2)potential claims of infringement by third parties. For what?

Unfortunately, we have recently discontinued Photoshop 18.1.6 and earlier versions, which our records show you may be using. While we recommend you update to the latest version of Photoshop, we recognize that some customers may prefer to use Photoshop 18. Therefore, we have released a new version, 18.1.7, which is available to you if you are interested. Please update Photoshop to this version or later by following the instructions below. By upgrading, you will continue to receive all the value that Creative Cloud has to offer.
Please be aware that should you continue to use the discontinued version of Photoshop 18.1.6 (or earlier) you may be at risk of potential claims of infringement by third parties.

https://www.keycodemedia.com/2019/05/09/adobe-limits-older-version-availability-what-you-should-know/?fbclid=IwAR3XoUtfz0CVsYvu19I7JRfkPt0lO1SGvqHhfRI1GGhLsfqUuY_ysaEA56c

It appears that adobe is in a copyright dispute with some other company, certain versions of various applications are possibly infringing so Adobe is withdrawing these from use. Presumably to reduce liability for Adobe, if you continue to use the affected versions then you face the possibility of being pursued too.

If you are not Adobe you are probably ok, although you might struggle to get liability pointed back to Adobe.

"Users of older versions of Adobe Creative Cloud apps including Photoshop have been told to stop using them or face potential "infringement claims" from third-party companies who are unnamed but suspected to be Dolby. Adobe cites only "ongoing litigation" as the reason for the abrupt announcement.

Logically the only way third parties can know if you are using unauthorized versions is if Adobe tells them. I can't see them doing that. "Adobe recently discontinued certain older versions of Creative Cloud applications. Customers using those versions have been notified that they are no longer licensed to use them and were provided guidance on how to upgrade to the latest authorized versions," said Adobe in a statement to AppleInsider.

"Unfortunately, customers who continue to use or deploy older, unauthorized versions of Creative Cloud may face potential claims of infringement by third parties. We cannot comment on claims of third-party infringement, as it concerns ongoing litigation."
Instead, users are receiving the equivalent of a cease and desist email, informing them that the apps that they are using are discontinued. "
interesting

https://www.keycodemedia.com/2019/05/09/adobe-limits-older-version-availability-what-you-should-know/?fbclid=IwAR3XoUtfz0CVsYvu19I7JRfkPt0lO1SGvqHhfRI1GGhLsfqUuY_ysaEA56c

It appears that adobe is in a copyright dispute with some other company, certain versions of various applications are possibly infringing so Adobe is withdrawing these from use. Presumably to reduce liability for Adobe, if you continue to use the affected versions then you face the possibility of being pursued too.

If you are not Adobe you are probably ok, although you might struggle to get liability pointed back to Adobe.

"Users of older versions of Adobe Creative Cloud apps including Photoshop have been told to stop using them or face potential "infringement claims" from third-party companies who are unnamed but suspected to be Dolby. Adobe cites only "ongoing litigation" as the reason for the abrupt announcement.

"Adobe recently discontinued certain older versions of Creative Cloud applications. Customers using those versions have been notified that they are no longer licensed to use them and were provided guidance on how to upgrade to the latest authorized versions," said Adobe in a statement to AppleInsider.

"Unfortunately, customers who continue to use or deploy older, unauthorized versions of Creative Cloud may face potential claims of infringement by third parties. We cannot comment on claims of third-party infringement, as it concerns ongoing litigation."
Instead, users are receiving the equivalent of a cease and desist email, informing them that the apps that they are using are discontinued. "
interesting

I received the following from Adobe. Can anybody explain 1) what this is all about? 2)potential claims of infringement by third parties. For what?

Unfortunately, we have recently discontinued Photoshop 18.1.6 and earlier versions, which our records show you may be using. While we recommend you update to the latest version of Photoshop, we recognize that some customers may prefer to use Photoshop 18. Therefore, we have released a new version, 18.1.7, which is available to you if you are interested. Please update Photoshop to this version or later by following the instructions below. By upgrading, you will continue to receive all the value that Creative Cloud has to offer.
Please be aware that should you continue to use the discontinued version of Photoshop 18.1.6 (or earlier) you may be at risk of potential claims of infringement by third parties.

Not a scam by a hacker but, the problem seems to be its way of reporting its use of Dolby Technology and Royalties to Dolby. Adobe would like to count its creative cloud suite as 1 program although its composed of several licensed products (for the sake of argument lets say 4 products use Dolby technology) Dolby says thats 4 royalty payments for abcd and adobe say no its just 1 for the whole bundle. I think they hope to limit the size of royalty payments at least going forwards by reducing the use of Dolby Technology in the creative suit in currently licensed products. This is why they are revoking the license for older versions. Still pretty unusual, it is a consequence of the subscription model, standalone would be a 1 time one fee, but as adobe charge you each month then Dolby wants their cut too.

https://regmedia.co.uk/2018/03/13/dolbyvsadobecomplaint.pdf

I doubt you would have a leg to stand on, you are licensed for the period of your subscription and I would expect there is a termination clause in the agreement you skipped through. Periodically the license is validated against adobes servers and when those servers refuse to validate thats legally an end to that version. They do appear to have created a new version of that generation so it doesn't require you to upgrade hardware in order to run that version.

Thats software as a service for you...