Getting sued, want to share my thoughts!

[cronini]

just take the pics off and either send them an apology letter or wait for them to contact you again (if they ever do)... simple

and hide your whois data next time

 

[bluecrab]

I had a cigarette site that sold smokes way below because i could get them from over seas.

Got a letter from some rat bastard lawyers saying that i was breaking the law and if I didn't remove the website they were going to sue me.

The letter was an intention to sue letter.

I had lost the log in info to the site and was not keeping up with it plus the domain was up for renewal so I just let it go.

I also had a P.O. box address I let that go to.

Usually they give you a chance to correct the problem as remove copyrighted images etc.
I don't think the OP has anything to worry about the site is gone and problem solved.

 

[typeslowly]

Just remove your images and most likely nothing will happen.

 

[delboy2010]

Get rid of the images/content, write a letter of apology and be done with it, has happened to a friend of mine once before, she actually had no control as it was the webdesigner she had emplyed who had added the images. Once they removed and aplogy written there was no further action, I'm surprised its got to any lawyer stage at all!

 

[oakley56fila]

I wish I had found this thread earlier as I've been a slightly similar situation. To my knowledge, they can only sue you if you do not comply and take down the 'offending content'. The only caveat to this is if you've earned money off of using their copyrighted works, they can come after you for that / damages I believe.

Essentially, imagine you make men's boxers and you use an image of Mickey Mouse without disney's permission. They can sue you for earnings, to recover what you've earned by unlawfully using their copyrighted property, and then sue you for damages by associating their copyrighted work with something distasteful. (they can TRY and argue whatever they want)

In the end, I would bet that if you take the images down and inform them that you have done so you can avoid getting a lawyer.

This is all in regard to the US.. not sure where you live.

Another option before paying a lawyer a crap ton of money would be to look up legal sites online where you can as a lawyer a few questions for a couple bucks. Just a thought.


Good luck on this!

 

[softwareprogram]

Hey guys,

so I have been reading a lot about autoblogs/SEO/wordpress lately. I decided to start my own autoblog and it went well after a month, getting around 1 buck a day. I decided to make more.

However, I received a letter yesterday from a laywer for company X, which states that I have posted their images and articles, which are copyright protected, on my website, which is true.

I am still a little bit shocked, I have never been in this type of situation before. I have not talked to a laywer yet. The fees for the laywer that I have to pay is 1300?, which is about 1800 USD.

I am not too sure what to do now, but I'll definitely consult a lawyer on monday.

Just my heads to you guys. Be careful when you set your plugin to autopost from certain websites. Or use a plugin that rewrites articles!

btw FML

The easiest way to get away with it .. show a fake invoice and tell them that some African designer works on your website and you found it and deleted it .. and it will never happen again

 

[eransacked]

Wikipedia should sue everyone cause people tend to print their articles and quote their text

i would personally fly to the lawyer who wrote and sent that letter and pee on his face and go for seconds on his chihuahua.

Nice..

 

[Pripod]

Laws are laws... Lots of time and effort that goes into writing articles or paying for the perfect image. When people steal content, it damages the existing website which it was pulled from within SERPs to some extent, which is not fair to the original writers.

I think your situation sucks (for you personally) but what did you think was going to happen by plagiarizing content and taking images without the rights to them?

As a point of advice, I would wait for further legal notices. If your site has been taken down and the content is not accessible they may not have recorded screenshoots, browser recordings or internet source files pulls. If they send a second notice to you, you can request specifics on what has been plagiarized. Always maintain a friendly relationship, and do not by any means defecate on the notice ans send it back to them. Rather, approach this as a simple misunderstanding which has been corrected.

Finally, I would be careful in running directly out to a lawyer. They can be extremely pricey and will likely not provide any information you cant get here (except for the idiots talking about throwing shit). =) Just wait this one out now, see how things proceed, and just claim that you have not received any notice (things can get lost in the mail.).

 

[syngenetic]

You're lucky, now you know how scared people get when they receive these kind of letters. Think BHWcally and start forwarding these letters to your competitors and profit.

 

[professorrosado]

Usually, the only thing that they'll ask you to do (the judge will insist) is that you remove their material - simple. So do so immediately, send the lawyer proof thatthe material was removed upon their diligent notification to you. Show how you have set safeguards that it won't happen again. That you did not know where the material was coming from or the there was a typo in the rss feeds which you corrected (blame it on the software, plugins and human error!)

Send with a very apologetic letter, denying foreknowledge of the deed, all the effort you did in identifying and correcting the software errors, and kindly asking that they reconsider pursuing this matter further.

If they insist on going to court, THEN hire a lawyer. Get the free consultation though, but don't pay em for doing what I just told you to do yourself! Don't be afraid yet. Just move quickly!!!

Disclaimer: I am not providing any legal service nor represent that my post has any legal standing nor that any individual or corporate entity follow the ideas and concepts that have been freely expressed. All readers are responsible wholly and entirely for their actions and agree to hold me blameless and not liable for any damages or injury that may arise from any one acting upon the information in this post.

 

[teeniegenie]

This thread is only evidence that you shouldn't be in SEO.

Not only does this letter not matter, but until I get police or the IRS at my door serving me subpeonas, I make it a policy to not give two craps what any two bit lawyer does.

I can tell you that neither the Police or IRS would come knocking in the OP's situation (well - at least not related to his autoblog anyway).

Copyrighted images and content? please.
Crumble it up and throw it in the trash.

The glorious part of bankruptcy law is that, you can make millions of dollars off trademark violations through an LLC, and 90+% of the time all they can do is file civil claims.

Meaning, you file bankruptcy of the company based upon "outstanding liabilities or losses" and your assets are effectively protected from the violations post bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy isn't as automatic or easy as it once was. If you make more than a certain amount - you can't file a Chapter 7 and wiggle out of a lawsuit. Furthermore, bankruptcy can have some serious repurcussions down the road - even for the rest of your life. Look at any type of application for credit (credit card, home loan, business loan, etc.) and many, if not most, will ask you whether you have EVER filed for bankruptcy. It will follow you forever and, if you screw up again after you have filed, you can't file again for another 8 years!

I make it a policy to not give a crap about anything, just make sure you stay on the civil side of the law breaking and nothing criminal. Certain lobbyists in the US have turned some civil issues into criminal ones (television programs etc), so a high degree of intelligence + dedication are once again, the two most important things to become successful in SEO.

Hide the assets of the company into trusts/wages/dividends to the members, whatever, and they're effectively untouchable in a lawsuit.

Your attempts to "hide" things can be easily discovered - trust me, I know from experience as one who has gone "searching" for hidden assets of another.

 

[teeniegenie]

I wish I had found this thread earlier as I've been a slightly similar situation. To my knowledge, they can only sue you if you do not comply and take down the 'offending content'. The only caveat to this is if you've earned money off of using their copyrighted works, they can come after you for that / damages I believe.

This is more or less correct...but even if the plaintiff sues you for infringement and you haven't earned one dollar, you still have to deal with the time, headache and costs associated with the lawsuit to prove your case. You're playing with fire by engaging in these types of infringements on a regular basis (or by openly violating the T&C's of a given website, such as CL).

 

[professorrosado]

Thanks for the replies guys. I can assure you that I am not writing a fake thread just for the kicks.

However, I must reply with an "official apology" letter. I will just reply by saying that I will never ever use their images again. But I will not pay immediately.

My concern is that they will sue me if I don't pay the bill from their lawyer. Should I talk with their lawyer and talk the amound down?

I live in Germany and I should have considered offshore hosting a while ago.

They also wrote that I copied the entire article and posted in on my website. This is impossible because I took their RSS-Feed to post articles and their RSS Feed only displays a sentence or two of the article. They can't make me pay for sentences like "i am a fucking douchebag company" just because it was on their website?

Well in the US, you have no need to pay any Lawyer's fee UNTIL a judge has determined your liability in court. You did not hire the attorney, they did. They did not have to hire the attorney, they could have simply contacted you first. It's their bill and not yours. Just do all the other stuff suggested and see your lawyer for FREE consultation.

 

[CashJunkie]

Germany is not the best place for BH :/

Hope it's just a scare! Gl bro, keep us updated!

 

[Blackhot123]

Lots of valuable good points I got from following all the responses here. Now I want to hear from the OP what had happened now. Any updates?

 

[thefreshmaker]

feel for you man

 

[hislittlemaeve]

With today economy, everyone is suing everyone. The trick is to protect your assets with Trusts, Brokerage, escrows and other corporate set up tricks. They can take what you dont have. Not to mention I have never claimed bankruptcy, but I have started too and each time my unfinished bankruptcy is started more and more just comes off the credit.... Let judgement help your credit!

 

[agnosticon]

So somebody wants to sue you for posting a few copywritten images on your blog which makes $1 per day, I would send that letter back in a package with dog poop in it.

thar r no rulez on interwebz

hahaha +1

 

[agnosticon]

@OP I wish you best of luck and pray that you get away with this

 

[WildDisease]

Say you've already deleted the specified content due to a previous complaint. And that you are fully DMCA compliant against users who are submitting copyrighted articles After all, your site has register/account features that allow anyone on the net to and submit their articles. Also ask them for the exact page locations so you can record their IP (don't give them this 'list' though)