Total scam. Lawyers (especially in the US-not sure about Germany) don't usually write letters asking for money. First you would get a notice from a lawyer to cease and desist, and that legal action was going to be taken. Then a judge would have to order you to pay or not. A lawyer just isn't going to write a letter and say "I need a $1000 because you broke the law." Not going to happen I don't think. Smells like a scam to me.
sued for using amazon api
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BLACKHAT1984
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No lawyer would ask you to pay direct to them and if it's copyright, $1000 certainly wouldn't be the figure. I call scam.
teeniegenie
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Also, many times in demand letters (like what you received), the lawyer will cite the law that gives him the right to ask for the $1,000. If he didn't, I'd be suspicious. If he did, LOOK IT UP and see if $1,000 (or any amount is listed).
Good luck!
Sounds like he is trying to make a few quick bucks. Don't buy it. Scan the letter and email to Amazon and let them go after the scammer. Otherwise, just ignore it unless you get served papers. Then you would still have time to settle out of court.
gerryboy101
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reply with an email and tell them to go F### themselves because it's obviously a scam.
hollaholla
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if i was a german lawyer i would have asked for euros. 
The Scarlet Pimp
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portalweb
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Can you post the letter here? (cross out your name)
noob411
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I didn't go thru all the posts but if i could put my 2 cents in, no lawyer would sue you and demand $1k that is such a low cost it wouldn't even cover the cost of a taxi to and from the court house..... this is a scam 1000% in my eyes. Who ever heard of a lawyer saying pay my company 1k or i am going to sue you that is the amount of a broke ass affiliate marketer trying to pull one over on you. Or some jacked up nigerian scam artist. Keep the letter make copies of it and take a copy of it to the police station and press charges for black mailing you as no lawyer anyways would put a letter in the mail with their name on it wanting cash or a suit. That is illegal. This is why it is important for you to buy the protection that comes when you buy your url, any dumb ass can get your personal information and start harrassing easy targets like yourself. Keep safe and go to who ever you bought that domain and get the protection NOW before more come in.
First of all, unless any of you are attorneys (maybe you're doing blackhat techniques because lawyer pay was too much) you shouldn't be giving advice.
My suggestion is to talk to a legal professional. Most attorneys will give you some consultation or advice on the phone for an hour in order to sell you their services. So you don't have to pay anything and get some relatively free advice.
If you don't live in Germany and they're threatening you in Germany, just never go to Germany.
However, there's lots of these boutique law firms popping up to sue poor people for relatively low level of copyright infringement.
My suggestion is to talk to a legal professional. Most attorneys will give you some consultation or advice on the phone for an hour in order to sell you their services. So you don't have to pay anything and get some relatively free advice.
If you don't live in Germany and they're threatening you in Germany, just never go to Germany.
However, there's lots of these boutique law firms popping up to sue poor people for relatively low level of copyright infringement.
OldMadHatter
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not enough time to read all this - obviously a scam - yet pay attention, starting with October 15th you are no longer allowed to import customer reviews from Amazon except through an iframe (you should double-check on this, no intention to hijack the thread).
dvdgangster
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Tell them you have the $1200 in the bank but need $200 to release it from the account and then you will pay the full $1200...you never know your luck :O) could be an easy $200
AceWallGromit
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The scam is responding to a 8 year old dead thread, dufus.
MisterF
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Thread now closed after this useful insight.
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