Help! Being sued for copywright infringement

O

orbit

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This guy built a site a week after mine and he is claiming I stole his content. I 100% did not. How would you followup to this email?

Dear Mr. XXX;

It has come to my attention that you have made an unauthorized use of my copyrighted work entitled XXX (the "Work") in the preparation of a work derived therefrom. I have reserved all rights in the Work, which was first published in April 2009 on http://www.XXXX dot com Please see attached document.

You neither asked for nor received permission to use the Work as the basis for XXXX nor to make or distribute copies of it. Therefore, I believe you have willfully infringed my rights under 17 USC Section 101, et seq. and as such could be liable for statutory damages as high as $100,000.

I demand that you immediately cease the use and distribution of all infringing works derived from the Work, and all copies of it, and that you destroy such copies immediately, and that you desist from this or any other infringement of my rights in the future. If I have not received an affirmative response from you by June 26, 2009 indicating that you have fully complied with these requirements, I shall initiate the full legal remedies available to rectify this situation.

Sincerely,

XXX
CEO/President
 
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He won't sue.

Consider this: it will cost him at least $5,000 to take you to court. This includes court fees and lawyer fees. I've seen these fake threats in many places - and I've actually used one in the past. They work wonders.

What is the website anyway? Is it a simple blog or is it something that will actually be profitable to sue? If you're making $10,000 a week then someone might actually get the bright idea that it will profitable to sue, but if its a blog making $5 a day then no one in their right mind would bother.
 
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tell that fool to stop being fancy and to go fuck himself. Dont believe those fancy words they use , its all competition to get you to go away. .
 
yank your site down... put it on prq.se hosting and make the domain name registry anonymous. Then claim you dont know WTF he is talking about.

Also, while you are at it, get another anon domain name, the same as his with scam at the end...

Host it there too... let the world know his site is a scam and redirect to yours.

This is what I would do.

Chances are he wont sue, but I would fuck him just for attempting to screw with me.
 
I use to get those once a month from an old site(gone now) I had when copy/paste was a good thing on google. nothing will probably happen. Remove the content and if he becomes the butt he sounds like, maybe one your users on the site submitted the content?? and it was really, really, really good(just suppose) and they used his name??(don't know, could happen) You know that guy...that guy that visits your site with stolen content...you may even have his ip(I bet if you do, it's in another country far away, but again, I don't know all the facts:))
 
If you've been indexed by google, search his page, and yours. Click the "Cached" link in Google, and it'll show you the cached date. Screenshot that and save it, just in case :)

Also, see when he registered his domain, with a WHOIS search. If he registered after you, and your cached screenshot shows the cache *before* he even registered his domain, what case does he have?

This is probably just a scare tactic anyway. I would get his WHOIS info, maybe even find out who his hosting provider is, and report it to them. Even if they take no action, they would have a note of it in case it ever does go to court.
 
You can view his IP Address if you still have the email. Check the IP Address for the country.
 
Nothing scares these guys more than a S&D letter dropping on their mat. Get his address from WHOIS and serve one on him. If he is private (which I think he would be if he is trying it on as you suggest) then tell him that your legal advisor has looked into it and it seems that he is the one in breach of copyright. Ask for his address so that you can serve papers on him. That will be the last you hear of him

*edit* I don't know how current the site is but a check of http://www.archive.org/index.php is always worth a shot
 
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The advice on this forum is comical (and just bad) sometimes. "Just tell that guy to go f himself"...blah blah blah. IM Muscles are a very close cousin to Beer Muscles...neither of which typically ends well.

Bottom line: He's not suing you, he's saying that he MAY sue you IF you don't take down the content in question. Is it your content?, then fight him if you want. If it's his content, take it down, send him an email saying it's gone and get a good nights sleep.

You have to pick your battles.
 
Check if your site is indexed by archive.org. If the archive shows contrary to what he claims, you can use that info for a counter-attack.
 
Hi Orbit,

It depends, what country you are from. If both of you are US residents then he shouldn't have to spend too much money to sue you. $30 will do the job. He can file a claim in Small Claims Court and sue you for an amount of up to $7500.

Stay away from the lawsuits. If it is your content, then go ahead and fight it, as long as you don't mind spending your time and money.

Good luck mate.


 
lol just look at some of the replies above. hilarious :D
but that, i suppose, is far from what the OP is feeling right now.

@orbit: if his site did go live a week after yours, then he's just trying to scare you. did u write the content yourself or did u get it from a "free" source?
 
if you are the original creator then u are safe, just see google cache. I would shoot a rude email and see what he has to say. Say your lawyer is looking at it etc etc and make it up. like the way he did. lol.
 
Umm your not being sued until you get a summons. You have in affect a cease and desist letter from not even a lawyer. Definitely an intimidation tactic. Wait to get served papers before seeking legal rep. as I doubt this will ever happen from this small timer.
 
digdugg said:
Umm your not being sued until you get a summons. You have in affect a cease and desist letter from not even a lawyer. Definitely an intimidation tactic. Wait to get served papers before seeking legal rep. as I doubt this will ever happen from this small timer.
Click to expand...

He is right. When you get sued you will get a summons from federal court and have x number of days to respond. If you don't the plaintiff can get a default judgement. You have gotten a cease and desist which anyone can draw up and send out.
 
Can't you just take that content from website or replace it with something else. I mean he's probably bluffing, but still...better safe than sorry. Unless you're really sure you have the right to the content so just take a screenshot of the cached page from webarchive and your're cool...
 
It's just a C&D ... meaning cease and desist. You won't have to worry much as long as you take the content down, or move your server over to prq.se as someone already mentioned =]

:usa:
 
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