sued for using amazon api

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qxxxp

qxxxp

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hey people,

I received some law papers from a lawyer... they tell me that I abused the copyright rights of 2 products on my amazon shop... (they sent me 2 links, but no more information about wtah have been abused, they say that there is some copyrighted text, but where? i dunno..) - I am using content from the amazon product api and the content is 100% from there, nothing altered or stolen. On every page it says clearly that the content is coming from amazon.

I checked the 2 pages and all I can see is a product information (title, weight, pricing, and no product description) and the second page are just customer comments, so I dont know where the copyright fraud is.

The lawyer wants 1000 usd from me (for copyright abuse).
*** W-T-F *** ???

what should I do? this seems not to be fake.. any advice?

btw: my site is in germany and the lawyer is from germany, i am selling german products.. but I am not a german..
 
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They must have sent you a number to contact them. There is a response period within which you must file if you are contesting the case or accepting their verdict.
To me this looks like a fraud. And they give their contact number to get an answer for you.
Call amazon and check with their legal dept what is it about.
And finally where the heck are you supposed to make those $1000. You might be able to find you through that info itself if its a prank or its serious sh*t.
 
When you do respond I'd make sure you make it very, very clear that...

1.) You are an Amazon affiliate
2.) Amazon affiliates have the right to use Amazon information and listings to sell products, and
3.) You are essentially helping this person sell products, and
4.) They have previously consented to allowing their text on Amazon to be used by selling stuff there.
 
Either this is fake or if it is for real I would just f.... this "lawyer" in the butt because this is some of these stupid German admonishers that are all over the internet and try to spoil internet marketing and online selling for everyone .....
You are an affiliate of Amazon and this stupido wants $1000 from you because you used Amazon texts .... nah, I would immediately call him and tell him he should go to hell ...
 
I smell scam...print out the amazon terms of use and ask where you were out of line.
 
Sounds like the illegally downloaded torrent scam. That started in Germany...
 
First of all the only one here who can bring these allegations to you would be Amazon.

And yes, they would simply have their legal department serve you with papers.

What they would not then do, is offer to take you on as a client as that would be a conflict of interest. A lawyer cannot represent both parties. It's illegal!
They would simply serve you with the papers, and advice you to seek legal council. They aren't even allowed to "Suggest" a lawyer to you.

It sounds like a scam. I'd check the legitimate contact info from this firm in Germany, and compare it to the contact info that is on the documents you've received to see if they match.

Then go from there...
 
Do some research on his contact info and see if hes a real lawyer.. call him etc..
 
This is just a variation of the MPAA scams where the firm just wants you to settle out of court before any proceedings. I'm sure they sent the same letter to thousands of Amazon Affiliates in the hopes that a few hundred will take the bait and pay to be left alone.
I would contact Amazon and let them know what's happening.
 
definitely bs.sounds like someone that will end up on some kinda dateline investigation in a few months.
 
Dadelius said:
First of all the only one here who can bring these allegations to you would be Amazon.

And yes, they would simply have their legal department serve you with papers.

What they would not then do, is offer to take you on as a client as that would be a conflict of interest. A lawyer cannot represent both parties. It's illegal!
They would simply serve you with the papers, and advice you to seek legal council. They aren't even allowed to "Suggest" a lawyer to you.

It sounds like a scam. I'd check the legitimate contact info from this firm in Germany, and compare it to the contact info that is on the documents you've received to see if they match.
Then go from there...
Click to expand...

I have some experience with lawfirms and it sounds like a scam to me. Amazon, could sue with their lawers, but some companies also use other lawfims. But the lawfirm will give you contact information and will keep on attemping to contact you. They are also required to inform who they are and what lawfirm they are when contacting you. To win a case they must have evidence. Which you need to tell them you want to see. I don't know much about copy rights. But they need to be able to present you with what you violated.
 
Presenting you with what they know is called "disclosure". When you contact them ask for that. If you don't receive it just forget about them. Also as stated above contact Amazon and inquire. They would be happy to know about a rouge firm doing something like this. It could very well be YOUR competition. :)
 
yo! thank you all for your replies!
The law firm is real and known here for suing some poor webmasters like me for any kind of shit. I emailed amazon 1 week ago but nobody cares - they told me that they will investigate this.

this is why i need to move with my server to china and some po box address in other country, its not because i am doing some illegal shit, its because i live in germany.

I found some interesting licence agreement part:

[FONT=&quot]The purpose of this Licence Agreement is to permit you to advertise items offered on the Amazon Site (?Products?). Under this Licence Agreement, we will make available to you proprietary application programming interfaces and other tools (collectively, the ?Product Advertising API?) that permit you to access and use certain types of data, images, text, and other information and content relating to Products (?Product Advertising Content?), including the following: [/FONT]

  • [FONT=&quot]Data, images, audio, video, logos, user interface designs, and other creative designs; and [/FONT]
  • [FONT=&quot]Textual materials, such as textual Product information. [/FONT]
Click to expand...
there are many other parts like this... I will write a letter to the lawyer showing him some of these paragraphs.. I hope it helps.

thanks again for your helping replies! :)
 
document everything, every little piece of conversation, time and date of every phone call and what was talked about, everything.

If for some reason this ever went to court, not having this makes you potentially look bad

On another note, I'd suggest looking up if amazon has a standard agreement that is in place for people to sell through them (just click through as if you wanted to sell something).

Chances are the fact that they had to agree to let both amazon and amazon partners use their data in order to sell on amazon is going to be more convincing to them than the agreement between you and amazon.

While you're at it, you may want to throw up a quick legal disclaimer on your site, as well as double check that your site is meeting amazon requirements - never hurts.

Also try contacting amazon legal instead of customer service - legal hates stuff like this, and if there's something to be done you'll get further by giving them a heads up. Usually a company's legal email is just [email protected].

Best of luck. I've received lawyers letters that are a complete waste of my time, but you always have to use caution because you're never really sure what you're up against.
 
humpfdi said:
Why you dont go away we are a free country and in personally dont want people in Germany who disklike to live here. Else shut up your mouth.
If you are so stupid using german amazon on german website .de then you lye under German Law. Why not a .com with whois protection ?

If youre a dumbass dont blame it on us or a KZ. Play with the rules or fly under the radar. If you are to stupid for both quit it. You should be sended to some KZ so you know the difference..go gutanamo ore elsewhere.

You know an ass like you whould wine the same story in any country of the world. Im in XX.. i hate living in XX *cry* Its not like a ponyhof here *cry*

I hope the fucking layer nails your ass real deep.
Click to expand...

He got so mad because you made fun of Germany. This made me chuckle
 
dont bother talking to the lawyer this is a scam. Only deal with Amazon to get to the bottom of it. I am sure they will eventually say they don't know anything about it.
 
Don't reply, they'll be sending out thousands of these demands. I had one for an image I had used once. If you reply they have you. It is a scam or a 'grey area' at least. They'll send out a thousand demands for this kind of shit. Maybe 20% will reply and get a second standard letter with more red writing on it. Eventually 10% will pay up for an easy life and they have made their money. If you don't reply there is no chance they are going to pay someone to track you down and get you into a court.
 
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