A group representing over 5,000 users of vector drawing software FreeHand has filed a class action lawsuit against Adobe Inc. in the California District Court for antitrust violations.

Adobe almost acquired FreeHand in 1994 when it acquired Aldus, but the Federal Trade Commission put a decade-long moratorium on the acquisition.

Like clockwork, when Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005, it acquired FreeHand, because Macromedia had absorbed FreeHand's then-owner Altsys.

The vector graphics software was then shelved in 2007. Adobe, meanwhile offered similar functionality in its Illustrator product.

The group of FreeHand diehards, which calls itself "Free FreeHand," complains that Adobe effectively killed its superior competitor by using exclusionary and anticompetitive tactics.