Getting sued, want to share my thoughts!
- Thread starter flashgordon88
- Start date
Vergo Igo Ti
Registered Member
- Aug 6, 2011
- 71
- 7
Actually, a cop once told me that, while the photo is automatically copyrighted to the person who took that photo... the minute that person gives away that image for free, they've given up all rights to the content.
He was giving a talk to the girls in the room to be careful when sending nudie pics to boyfriends who sometimes become ex's, because once they give away that photo without charging for it, them boobs is public domain.
axus_auto
Power Member
- Jul 13, 2011
- 515
- 506
SEO Authority
Senior Member
- Apr 21, 2010
- 900
- 1,125
Take the copy content down and reply with an autoblog reply.
balleclorin
Newbie
- Feb 21, 2011
- 7
- 2
I think they just want to scare u.. Remove the pics and send an apology for the inconveniance
Generally speaking the first thing that happens in situations like this is a cease and desist letter. If you refuse it may go to the next level - and that is where it "may" end.
In order to be compensated for copyright infringement the holder must show that your use of their material effected them in a financial way (loss) - or - somehow effected their company reputation... that can be more costly since it takes into account potential "future" losses and so on.
If you can afford a lawyer, do not contact them directly, you never know what you might write or say that could be detrimental to you - If you can't afford a lawyer and you have taken everything down. Send a "Short" email and simply state "images and content in question have been removed from "site name" - nothing more than that (remember, you never know what can hurt you). Do not apologize, that confirms guilt, do not take responsibility (e.g. The images on "my" site have been removed) - keep it simple and third party.
Then wait for a response - chances are that will be the end of it.
Most important - companies are going after copyright infringement more and more and are winning (usually lots of money involved both for losses and gains) - and the more cases and wins, the more likely courts will lean toward the copyright or trademark holder.
Lastly - court is a funny thing, it is seldom goes as you would expect, and the word "Fair" does not apply. Judges can make decisions that are right off the wall and not make "ANY" sense...
you never know, Judge maybe had a fight with the spouse last night, drinking probs, illness - all can effect a judges perspective - maybe just missed coffee the morning of your case or has to leave in the afternoon for vacation - BE CAREFUL - YOU NEVER KNOW HOW IT WILL GO!!!
If you can afford a lawyer - get one - at least a 1 hour consultation for $300 to $600- Get a GOOD one - cheap lawyer = a lawyer lacking confidence and proven track record.
In order to be compensated for copyright infringement the holder must show that your use of their material effected them in a financial way (loss) - or - somehow effected their company reputation... that can be more costly since it takes into account potential "future" losses and so on.
If you can afford a lawyer, do not contact them directly, you never know what you might write or say that could be detrimental to you - If you can't afford a lawyer and you have taken everything down. Send a "Short" email and simply state "images and content in question have been removed from "site name" - nothing more than that (remember, you never know what can hurt you). Do not apologize, that confirms guilt, do not take responsibility (e.g. The images on "my" site have been removed) - keep it simple and third party.
Then wait for a response - chances are that will be the end of it.
Most important - companies are going after copyright infringement more and more and are winning (usually lots of money involved both for losses and gains) - and the more cases and wins, the more likely courts will lean toward the copyright or trademark holder.
Lastly - court is a funny thing, it is seldom goes as you would expect, and the word "Fair" does not apply. Judges can make decisions that are right off the wall and not make "ANY" sense...
you never know, Judge maybe had a fight with the spouse last night, drinking probs, illness - all can effect a judges perspective - maybe just missed coffee the morning of your case or has to leave in the afternoon for vacation - BE CAREFUL - YOU NEVER KNOW HOW IT WILL GO!!!
If you can afford a lawyer - get one - at least a 1 hour consultation for $300 to $600- Get a GOOD one - cheap lawyer = a lawyer lacking confidence and proven track record.
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always private whois, you sound as if you're from Germany I'D say so don't work with .de domains there and have your hosting not in Germany, better Netherlands or even US. If you get a good server in the US it will still be fast enough for Autoblogs and the like.
Form some offshore companies, with bank accounts, or buy existing shell companies.
use this to register your domains, pay for your server.
Even if someone would get your address from the the host in the US, they'd still need to crack the company. Which is a hard thing to do as long as they don't have anything else on you then simply wanting to send you a C&D...
Form some offshore companies, with bank accounts, or buy existing shell companies.
use this to register your domains, pay for your server.
Even if someone would get your address from the the host in the US, they'd still need to crack the company. Which is a hard thing to do as long as they don't have anything else on you then simply wanting to send you a C&D...
getting sued over the internet is like a joke, EVERYONE makes threats, but no one actually takes action.
Taking action costs BIG money, $5,000 to hire an attorney to file the lawsuit, no one in their right mind is going to do that to a website that isn't selling anything but advertising. Trust me, not even YAHOO! would pursue it, trust me, I know
lol!
Taking action costs BIG money, $5,000 to hire an attorney to file the lawsuit, no one in their right mind is going to do that to a website that isn't selling anything but advertising. Trust me, not even YAHOO! would pursue it, trust me, I know
lol!Different in Germany... You get a letter from a lawyer, if you don't pay they go after you with bailiffs and you get a negative entry in your credit report. You actually have to go to court then and fight, which often exceeds the cost of the C&D letter.
So most people pay...
So most people pay...
flashgordon88
Registered Member
- Jul 7, 2011
- 76
- 5
how do you private whois?
nicofan
Junior Member
- Jul 25, 2010
- 142
- 79
Private whois means that the registrar where you register your domain does not show your address details or your name on who-is websites. the person looking your site up will only see the address of the registrar.
registrars like "internetbs" only give out your details if they are sued. They are located in the bahamas, nobody will sue them there because of a client who uses a copyrighted picture.
I advise you not to use private whois by companies like godaddy because they are known to not be very "bulletproof". use offshore registrars like internetbs.
by the way if i may ask, how did you handle the situation with these suckers suing you?
good luck!
Jonny Quick
BANNED
- Aug 26, 2010
- 232
- 345
New Arstechnica article which basically says Righthaven has filed multiple suits making legal arguments that have been shot down on other suits they have flled. Oh yeah, and a $100K+ fine !
Note the phrase "for want of standing". They are saying that Righthaven doesn't even have a right to be there litigating, and despite that fact, they keep on doing it. Then later this is described as "vexatious", lol. What a cool word. I hate it when people vexate me, all this vexatiousness everywhere is vexing.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/10/righthaven-hit-with-largest-fine-yet-119488.ars
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Loco Penguin
Regular Member
- Sep 20, 2011
- 273
- 20
I think they are just trying to scare you man...
ArranWood
Registered Member
- Aug 18, 2011
- 54
- 5
Here?s a quick fix for ANYONE who finds themselves in this situation in the future on a site that is not making the profits to argue the case.
First thing it to remove the copyright material immediately, and then let them know the situation in 99% of cases that will be the end of it.
If the case persists, change your website to one supporting a charity or one that promotes discussions that affects people emotionally such as ?fight against cancer?.
Then in BOLD text at the top of your page write something like this...
?We are sorry to say we may have to close our site that is dedicated to helping people cope with cancer, but a company called XXXX is suing is because we had one of their images on our website without consent.
We are so sorry to all of the 1000?s of people who have come to rely on the advice they have received but we cannot afford to fight this battle against XXX as they are corporate giants in their industry and won?t stop until their solicitors/lawyers have taken everything we have?.
If you have been affected by hearing the news that we will be forced to close, please write to XXX or email them EMAIL ADDRESS and tell them how much you personally rely on our website and how it has helped you cope.
We don?t expect that their lawyers will withdraw but maybe if the company XXXX has a heart they may realise that this was an error and simply drop the case so we can help others in the future.
Spread the word about this on your Facebook, Twitter etc we really don?t want to close our doors while people still suffer with the affects of cancer worldwide but we may have to because of this case
Thank you for your support?
Sorry for the long example above but the fact is you are either thinking that would work OR It?s wrong to write that I am offended. In either case it stirs a negative emotion which of course the company that is suing you do not want.
P.S. If you need to know who to make your newly made charity type website look very busy then you are probably in the wrong forum.
Best regards
Arran Wood
meatro
BANNED
- Nov 21, 2009
- 568
- 1,001
Shitty situation, but if it's anything like America, you don't have much to worry about.
First of all, whoever said they have to send a C&D first is flat out wrong. You can be sued at any time for anything. I can sue you for stepping in the gum I saved on the sidewalk for later if I want to. Whether or not I win and the frivolity of the suit is up to the courts. A C&D is more of a courtesy, "you don't want to go to court, neither do we, so C&D."
Second, they can't sue you for what you don't have is bologna. They can sue you for $8.2M if they can think of a good reason. If you don't have it, they'll just dock your paycheck. If you work under the table or don't work... They'll wait or just send you to collections.
Third, and the most important.. In most American states, damages must proven. If you say I did something to you and I now owe you money, you need to *prove* that what *I* did caused you to lose that amount of money. You can't just say, "he 'stole' 2 lines of text from my RSS feed which is published freely on the internet and as a result, I want him to pay $50,000."
I'd be glad to pay that. Right after you show me $50,000 worth of lost business as a direct result of my actions. That also doesn't mean an increased bounce rate or anything dumb like that... I want $50,000 worth of cancellations, refunds, etc along with the correspondence from those people blaming my actions for their reasoning.
It may take a bit of a twist since you were profiting off the content, but still.. At $1/day, I'd love to see them come up with any significant sum as "damages."
Here in America, you can't just sue people and take money from them. Unless they have no money to defend themselves, then you win by default. Gotta love it.
First of all, whoever said they have to send a C&D first is flat out wrong. You can be sued at any time for anything. I can sue you for stepping in the gum I saved on the sidewalk for later if I want to. Whether or not I win and the frivolity of the suit is up to the courts. A C&D is more of a courtesy, "you don't want to go to court, neither do we, so C&D."
Second, they can't sue you for what you don't have is bologna. They can sue you for $8.2M if they can think of a good reason. If you don't have it, they'll just dock your paycheck. If you work under the table or don't work... They'll wait or just send you to collections.
Third, and the most important.. In most American states, damages must proven. If you say I did something to you and I now owe you money, you need to *prove* that what *I* did caused you to lose that amount of money. You can't just say, "he 'stole' 2 lines of text from my RSS feed which is published freely on the internet and as a result, I want him to pay $50,000."
I'd be glad to pay that. Right after you show me $50,000 worth of lost business as a direct result of my actions. That also doesn't mean an increased bounce rate or anything dumb like that... I want $50,000 worth of cancellations, refunds, etc along with the correspondence from those people blaming my actions for their reasoning.
It may take a bit of a twist since you were profiting off the content, but still.. At $1/day, I'd love to see them come up with any significant sum as "damages."
Here in America, you can't just sue people and take money from them. Unless they have no money to defend themselves, then you win by default. Gotta love it.
meatro
BANNED
- Nov 21, 2009
- 568
- 1,001
............................Unless they have screen shots. Which they probably do.
boydie
Senior Member
- May 16, 2010
- 1,065
- 189
The most probably course most companies take is cease and desist, they mean nothing, don;t waste money on a lawyer until you actually get a court order, you can however remove the images, which is what they are probably hoping for.
I got one from Digg 4 years about a clone site and the sites still up and it has digg in the url.
I got one from Digg 4 years about a clone site and the sites still up and it has digg in the url.
upl8t
Regular Member
- Apr 9, 2008
- 475
- 85
Not sure I ever want to take legal advice from a cop.