am i really being sued?

[dakota5369]

so i had an account with ebay that i was selling some dvds on that may or may not have been real. i wasnt told they were copies, so as far as i know, they were real. but they were also bought from china, so in all likelihood they were not.

i got this email from a lawyer (i googled and he is a real lawyer) saying i need to stop selling and also i was being sued and need to retain counsel to answer to charges that will be filed against me in California on April 4th. so i have a few questions.

1. how do they know they are fake? and how would i know if they are fake? is it up to me to inspect everything i buy for authenticity? can't i just claim as far as i know they are real? and are they going to hunt down all the buyers to see if they were real?

2. California? am i supposed to pack up there and go? is it a civil or criminal matter? are they going to put a warrant out for me if i dont go all the way to california?

3. An email? this email was dated March 24th, so shouldnt i have a letter by now? i mean i hardly think an email counts as official notification of a lawsuit.

anyway, i am thinking it is just a threat to get me to stop. so i am just going to blow it off other than stopping selling the item. thoughts?

 

[tukim]

Hopefully you didn't respond? It's a basic DMCA notice I'm assuming, meaning ignore it, stop selling pirated shit and move on.

EDIT:

1. You are selling the object, so yes you are responsible.
2. They'll come to your local court.
3. Only if you respond, otherwise it is marked as "undelivered".

 

[dakota5369]

Hopefully you didn't respond? It's a basic DMCA notice I'm assuming, meaning ignore it, stop selling pirated shit and move on.

EDIT:

1. You are selling the object, so yes you are responsible.
2. They'll come to your local court.
3. Only if you respond, otherwise it is marked as "undelivered".

i did not respond. here is the email....

Attached you will find a demand letter and draft COMPLAINT which relate to your intentional trademark infringement of xxxxx and xxxxx products. Please read these documents thoroughly, as they specifically address a federal lawsuit that will be filed against you in Los Angeles, California, on or about April 4, 2011.

xxxxx, LLC is aggressively combating rampant piracy of its xxxxx and xxxxx line of products and services.

You are hereby put ON NOTICE and should immediately CEASE AND DESIST from the sale of COUNTERFEIT xxxxx and xxxxx products.

Please retain legal counsel and have them contact our firm as soon as possible.

 

[Kickflip]

Sounds like a civil matter, but if you don't show up to the hearing, they will probably win by default, and then if you don't pay the judgment, then you can have big problems. They will not go to your local court, that is wrong.

Edit due to new evidence:
Sounds like a broad sweeping lawsuit involving hundreds of people. They probably sent the same letter out to all of them in hopes that some people will call to settle. I don't think they will win a default judgment against everyone because they wont have proper evidence against everyone.

 

[dakota5369]

Sounds like a civil matter, but if you don't show up to the hearing, they will probably win by default, and then if you don't pay the judgement, then you can have big problems. They will not go to your local court, that is wrong.

If you want to respond, just say:

Who is suing me?
Why am I being sued?

what i dont get is i was just one of dozens and dozens of people listing this. and people have been doing it for a long time. so did they just randomly decide to pick me out of a hat? why? i am hardly the biggest dealer doing it on there. that is why i think it is just a threat. if it were real, why would there still be people doing it on there today? also, like i said, an email is hardly an official notice. i would expect a certified letter or something

 

[tukim]

Responding = guilty, as you are now saying you got the email and know what happened.

Re: Kickflip They will not personally come to your court, ok corrected as mentioned. But, they will forward it to your local jurisdiction.

 

[CrazyMatch]

Let me give you a little advise because this happened to me. I didn't respond and this was 2 years ago, but I stopped selling the stuff immediately. Nothing ever came of it, and I can say that I you were probably picked because all of your stuff was legit through ebay and paypal. You are an easy target for them to get to stop selling. Now i do sell a lot of stuff on ebay that is we will say grey area, but you would never know its me Bottom line is if you are going to sell again make sure its not you selling it, and quit selling the stuff under you immediately. Just my 2 cents.

what i dont get is i was just one of dozens and dozens of people listing this. and people have been doing it for a long time. so did they just randomly decide to pick me out of a hat? why? i am hardly the biggest dealer doing it on there. that is why i think it is just a threat. if it were real, why would there still be people doing it on there today? also, like i said, an email is hardly an official notice. i would expect a certified letter or something

 

[super11]

-It could be a smart move by your competitor on eBay. Or
-It could be real. I don't know much about legal matters, but the way I look at this is that an email notification isn't a viable way to communicate when it comes to serious business such as suing someone, considering the fact that an email can easily go unnoticed, ignored, trashed or might land up in spam.

Legal matters require legal experts. Any friends, relative as a lawyer? You might have a word with them.

 

[Kickflip]

what i dont get is i was just one of dozens and dozens of people listing this. and people have been doing it for a long time. so did they just randomly decide to pick me out of a hat? why? i am hardly the biggest dealer doing it on there. that is why i think it is just a threat. if it were real, why would there still be people doing it on there today? also, like i said, an email is hardly an official notice. i would expect a certified letter or something

Yea, they have to have proof of "serving you notice" that you are being involved in a lawsuit. I am certain they just got any contact information from whois or ebay or paypal and sent the emails to EVERYONE they could and are hoping for some reply. Even just a "piss off" reply will suffice as proof of serving notice probably.

 

[dakota5369]

Let me give you a little advise because this happened to me. I didn't respond and this was 2 years ago, but I stopped selling the stuff immediately. Nothing ever came of it, and I can say that I you were probably picked because all of your stuff was legit through ebay and paypal. You are an easy target for them to get to stop selling. Now i do sell a lot of stuff on ebay that is we will say grey area, but you would never know its me Bottom line is if you are going to sell again make sure its not you selling it, and quit selling the stuff under you immediately. Just my 2 cents.

yea, i will definitely stop. i only sold it because i saw so many others selling it. i didnt think it would be a big deal. and i didnt sell it under me, i sod it under my wife! even worse. but i am creating a stealth account now. so maybe i will have another go at it

 

[Kickflip]

-It could be a smart move by your competitor on eBay. Or
-It could be real. I don't know much about legal matters, but the way I look at this is that an email notification isn't a viable way to communicate when it comes to serious business such as suing someone, considering the fact that an email can easily go unnoticed, ignored, trashed or might land up in spam.

Legal matters require legal experts. Any friends, relative as a lawyer? You might have a word with them.

Email is becoming a much more official way to serve notice and provide legal documentation. Many businesses refuse to provide paper receipts or billing notices, they simply send them by email.

You can also including tracking which will show you when an email has been opened and viewed. Also, if the email contains any links, then the user clicks on a link (VERY LIKELY) his IP/Referrer will be recorded, and that is proof they opened the email. Served.

 

[dakota5369]

-It could be a smart move by your competitor on eBay. Or
-It could be real. I don't know much about legal matters, but the way I look at this is that an email notification isn't a viable way to communicate when it comes to serious business such as suing someone, considering the fact that an email can easily go unnoticed, ignored, trashed or might land up in spam.

Legal matters require legal experts. Any friends, relative as a lawyer? You might have a word with them.

i agree. i almost missed the email since it is an account i rarely use. it was dated the 24th, so i would think i would have gotten a written notice by now. my sister is a lawyer, but i wouldnt dream of talking to her. i would get a huge lecture

 

[dakota5369]

Email is becoming a much more official way to serve notice and provide legal documentation. Many businesses refuse to provide paper receipts or billing notices, they simply send them by email.

You can also including tracking which will show you when an email has been opened and viewed. Also, if the email contains any links, then the user clicks on a link (VERY LIKELY) his IP/Referrer will be recorded, and that is proof they opened the email. Served.

well, i didnt look at the attachments. and a business might correspond that way, but i highly doubt it is acceptable for a court. as for the email itself being opened, i accidentally open a bunch of emails and then delete them without reading them. for all i know it was a nigerian scam

 

[tukim]

Email is becoming a much more official

Easier, cost efficient.

Yea, they have to have proof of "serving you notice" that you are being involved in a lawsuit.

Which brings me to the case of NOT responding. Standard procedure.

You can also including tracking which will show you when an email has been opened and viewed. Also, if the email contains any links, then the user clicks on a link (VERY LIKELY) his IP/Referrer will be recorded, and that is proof they opened the email. Served.

Stop scaring the dude, it's nonsense and can't be held in court and most clients will block this.

OP: Wipe your ass with the notice, stop selling pirated shit, and move on. How many times do I have to say it...

EDIT: The #1 target for piracy is someone trying to sell it. Second is uploader then downloader.

 

[killer2021]

what i dont get is i was just one of dozens and dozens of people listing this. and people have been doing it for a long time. so did they just randomly decide to pick me out of a hat? why? i am hardly the biggest dealer doing it on there. that is why i think it is just a threat. if it were real, why would there still be people doing it on there today? also, like i said, an email is hardly an official notice. i would expect a certified letter or something

There is alot of money being made by FOR-PROFIT lawyers hitting people up for settlement money. Law school aint cheap! Right now they just threatened you with a lawsuit if you don't stop what you are doing. If you don't stop what you are doing then you will be formally served with a lawsuit which will come in the mail. Thats where they will force you into a settlement. Most settle as its cheaper than actually fighting the lawsuit.

I'd respond back saying you will comply with xyz notice and cease selling said products. That way they don't actually file formally. I'd close the ebay account and move on to something else.

Now if you were overseas then it could be a different story but ebay has all your information/location etc. So the law firm will just go through ebay to pull your information so they can formally serve you. Don't let it get that far.

 

[Kickflip]

well, i didnt look at the attachments. and a business might correspond that way, but i highly doubt it is acceptable for a court. as for the email itself being opened, i accidentally open a bunch of emails and then delete them without reading them. for all i know it was a nigerian scam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_of_process

According to wikipedia, it does still appear that they must serve you in person. I think they are trying to get you to respond so that you can voluntarily accept the proceedings, or so they can verify your identity/location and then hire someone to serve you notice. It is a broad email, and they wont do anything against you.

It is a lawsuit, which means they are building a case firstly, and seeing if they will have enough people to sue to make it worth their effort/time/money. If you ignore them, they will do nothing. You don't have to worry about police, they are not filing criminal charges against you.

 

[dakota5369]

yea, i am just gonna stop selling and ignore the email. i agree that they are just looking for money. i seriously doubt it is worth their time and money to drag me into court, especially for a broke ass guy like me they can never collect from. i assume they just want to make a settlement with me and that is why they want me to respond BEFORE they file the suit.

 

[Kickflip]

Stop scaring the dude, it's nonsense and can't be held in court and most clients will block this.

I wasn't specifically referring to this case, or lawsuits in general, but email is becoming much more official way of communication. I work for a pretty big company (but im just a small fish) as my day job, and my company got sued for sending an email with a typo in it. The email had 1 number in a date written wrong, which caused us to look like our records didn't correspond with the actual date of events taking place, and we got slapped with a suit for taking unauthorized funds from a credit card. We settled and it was only a few hundred dollars judgment, but it just shows email will very soon be an official way of communicating for all purposes.

 

[killer2021]

yea, i am just gonna stop selling and ignore the email. i agree that they are just looking for money. i seriously doubt it is worth their time and money to drag me into court, especially for a broke ass guy like me they can never collect from. i assume they just want to make a settlement with me and that is why they want me to respond BEFORE they file the suit.

Oh, trust me, it is profitable thats why these lawyers go around hassling everyone and suing everyone. They're parasites basically. Not everyone is a broke ass so most people do settle and do end up paying up. More settlements, the more money they make.

 

[tukim]

Why do you people keep telling him to respond? ITS A GUILTY VERDICT. You all work for collection agencies or lawyers in anti-p2p don't you? I knew it...

Can't imagine if I came to BHW 4 years ago, or even last 2 months when I received 4 DMCA notices. You'd all have put me in jail for stupidity listening to you.

Ingore the shit and stop. Once you respond, it's automatically "filed" and have fun. They'll send the local Sheriffs if you don't show up to the paper notice court order mailed to your house because you pled guilty. (give it 6 months of unresponsive home mail)

I wasn't specifically referring to this case, or lawsuits in general, but email is becoming much more official way of communication. I work for a pretty big company (but im just a small fish) as my day job, and my company got sued for sending an email with a typo in it. The email had 1 number in a date written wrong, which caused us to look like our records didn't correspond with the actual date of events taking place, and we got slapped with a suit for taking unauthorized funds from a credit card. We settled and it was only a few hundred dollars judgment, but it just shows email will very soon be an official way of communicating for all purposes.

Don't care who you worked for, it's all crap in general automated DMCA notices.
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