Being sued for copyright infringment? Attorney?

Question

Guys im being sued for copyright infringement by thompson. I bought a scanned pdf copy of a book online a year ago from some website that sold student textbooks I had this file sitting in my computer and decided to sell it on ebay last week beacause I didn’t need it anymore. Ebay noticed it was a pdf copy and must have reported me to the publisher. Now the the publisher is threating to sue me if I dont provide them with the sale document with the price it was sold for. They said once I provide the information relating to the sale they then will consider for a settlement offer if they agree that’s the route to go since it probably would not be worth going to court over this small sale. But what if their settlement offer is to high?. All this for a 20 Dollar sale and Im a fulltime student that does not work. I don’t know what to do and I cant afford an attorney and I already wrote them a letter apologizing but they still want me to repay them that money I made (20 bucks) which is not a problem for me and once that is done then they will make a settlement offer. What kind of money do you guys thinks they will want in damages or for settlement? Or for infringement laws browken? Would it even be worth getting an attorney for this? What should I do? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Agree with the above poster, as you have already sent them a letter in writing apologizing you have pretty much already made their case for them if they choose to pursue the case in Court.

If you still have the PDF book on file, there likely is the terms and conditions of use, reproduction and copy write information and may even indicate penalty information.

Usually, free consulations for an attorney are only for cases in which the attorney will be accepting the matter on a contingency fee basis where you are the litigant and suing someone else (ex: personal injury cases), not when someone is suing you.

It might be prudent to ask them in writing, hypothetically speaking, what exactly would be the terms and conditions of a Settlement Agreement entail?

If they send you a straightforward, easy to understand response, releases you from any further recourse on their part, and it is under $200 it would likely be prudent to accept that offer. (They are likely going to want, at minimum, the fair market value of the book, which is the price it sold for on E-Bay, and at minimum 1 hour or attorney fees, which vary depending on where the company is located, but likely between $125 - $175/hr). If it goes to Court, they would be entitled, at minimum, to collect that amount, plus Court costs. and could even pursue criminal charges.

If the proposed Settlement Agreement is overly detailed and confusing, ridiculously high amount, or doesn't state that once the Settlement is paid that it settles the matter in full, you would absolutely want to get an attorney involved at that point.

Answer 2

Just to address this issue that was raised:

The reason you can sell a print book is because ‘First Sale Doctrine’ applies, which means that once you buy it you can do whatever you want to with it, as long as you don’t make a copy of it. If you sell it or give it to another person, you aren’t making a copy, you’re simply transferring the original book.

First Sale Doctrine does not apply to ebooks, because when you ‘send’ the ebook, you are making a copy (the original is still on your computer and the copy goes to the recipient), therefore, it’s an infringement of copyright.

Epublishing companies are starting to go after people who do this, because they’re losing a lot of money because of it. For example…one person buys an ebook and then sells the book to 20 people (which of course equals 20 copies). I know that's not the case in YOUR situation, but there are people/companies that do that.

The only advice I have for you is when they make the settlement offer, if it’s too high, talk to an attorney to see if he/she might be able to negotiate with them.

Answer 3

attorneys are expensive, maybe wait to see thier offer, if they know your a student they shouldn't ask anymore than you can bear or they wouldn't bother asking. They may think your parents have loot and that may be what they're researching right now.

you may be able to get away with it, you never claimed to have written the book, you just sold it, If you can say you didn't make copies but just sold yours thier may be grounds. I can sell any used books or textbooks to whomever i please without violating copyrights, this is just an electronic version of the same thing, they can't prove you made multiple copies, and you have as much ownership of that as a paper textbook. With a good lawyer you may be able to win. Maybe even a free information lawyer (if they exist) there are some of us who are fighting to end intellectual hoarding of knowledge such as copyrights and patents in order to exploit people for basic medical information and treatment. We feel laws should not be enacted to cause suffering and to cause elitism where none should exist.

Imagine if computers could create TV dinners, we could feed the world with the TV dinners created by the computer but the law says it all belongs to swanson. So should the world sit by and starve because it will cut in to swansons profits. That's greed and exploitation at it's core. Telling us we can't do it cause you don't make any money. It's really sad.

Answer 4

Oooh, that's sad. You need to go to a free consultation offered by an attorney. Also, you need to contact the company you bought the pdf copy from and ask them to send you another receipt to show you paid it.

Answer 5

First of all, why would you communicate with these guys without a lawyer. Sending an aplogy virtually seals your fate.

Big companies like that like to sue the poorest, most defensely people so they can make an example.

You definitely need to hire a lawyer.

Answer 6

Well I would suggest getting a lawyer, because you are dealing with a big company here, and they don't mind harassing you at all to make you pay whatever just to get them off your back, you could try contacting them again to see if they will give you a round about figure.....good luck