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eric87m
join:2003-12-07
Washington, DC

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eric87m

Member

Notice of Claim of Copyright Infrigement letter

I received a email today from Comcast stating that they have received a notification from a copyright holder that I have infringed a copyrighted work.

The information of what I downloaded, when and how, is correct. They caught me red handed.

Other than what I just described there are no instructions on what to do right now.

If anyone can provide me with help on how to protect myself, and what steps I should take next, please let me know. Thanks.
lutherberry
join:2005-11-28
Keystone Heights, FL

lutherberry

Member

Prepare to write a very big check
Expand your moderator at work

Wayne99021
Premium Member
join:2004-12-28
Mead, WA

Wayne99021 to eric87m

Premium Member

to eric87m

Re: Notice of Claim of Copyright Infrigement letter

My neighbor got one of those letters last year.
When he called to inquire about it, he was told to knock off downloading from Lime wire and one other site.
He stopped using them and has not heard anything since.
Expand your moderator at work
Hydroshock
join:2002-09-12
Colorado Springs, CO

Hydroshock to Whatever33

Member

to Whatever33

Re: Notice of Claim of Copyright Infrigement letter

Well they can slap "copyrighted" on anything these days. The way the U.S. Copyright laws work, everything is copyrighted the moment it is written and doesn't need to be filed or anything. (including things as simple as emails). Problem is proving it was yours first without filing it.

On the other hand, they have to prove they suffered some sort of loss from what you did in some cases. So lutherberry said, prepare to write a big check or come up with some other compromise. Or whatever it is you downloaded, if you didn't upload anything, you could always try buying whatever it was they're trying to slap you with and scratch it up, play dumb and say you were trying to repair the disk with the new file. (I know it makes no sense to you, but to many not-so-tech-savy people it would )

also I don't take responsibility for my stupid farfetched idea.
Rick5
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06

Rick5 to eric87m

Premium Member

to eric87m
One thing I certainly wouldn't be doing is to continue to dl copyrighted material.
I'd tend to think that if they're going to go after someone, it will be those who are multiple offenders and who have received notices such as yours, but continue to do it.

Other than that, I'd do nothing. They haven't sued you or asked you to do anything else.
I certainly wouldn't respond to the letter though at this point.

WickedWinter
join:2003-08-02
USA

2 edits

WickedWinter

Member

Comcast is telling you that you are violating their TOS. The copyright owner has reported your IP address to Comcast. You should stop, or if Comcast gets further reports, they may disconnect you.

This has nothing to do with writing a big check. This is a warning, not a lawsuit.
K Patterson
Premium Member
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH

1 recommendation

K Patterson to eric87m

Premium Member

to eric87m
If the injured party wants to pursue your infringement, he will file an ex-parte (without informing the other party, whose name he doesn't know as yet) lawsuit against John Doe, serve your ISP and obtain your name. He will then sue you and offer to settle for some amount. If it is the RIAA, that will probably be $4500.

You can choose to defend. It will cost maybe $50 grand. You are not apt to win.

Here is a site with a lot of information:

»recordingindustryvspeopl ··· pot.com/

What you do NOT want to do is reformat your hard drive. There's a good reason why damning documents and emails show up in law suits - because the evidence against the defendants is less damning than the act of destroying it. It converts a civil wrong into a serious felony.

Some folks will rail at the plaintiffs, and surely RIAA and the like deserve criticism. None of that changes your situation - you took something that was not yours to take (and offered to redistribute it, which is how you got caught - they have copies of your shared directory).

Best thing is to hope that you are not pursued. And, stop downloading!!
DMS1
join:2005-04-06
Plano, TX

DMS1 to Hydroshock

Member

to Hydroshock
said by Hydroshock:

Well they can slap "copyrighted" on anything these days. The way the U.S. Copyright laws work, everything is copyrighted the moment it is written and doesn't need to be filed or anything. (including things as simple as emails). Problem is proving it was yours first without filing it.
That's not just a function of US law - it's the fundamental principle by which copyright works. Essentially, anything you create belongs to you and others can't just steal it or misrepresent it as theirs. Copyright is however a relatively weak instrument since it only applies to tangible creations and not ideas or concepts (which is where patents come in).

Apollo729
join:2006-08-28
Avis, PA

Apollo729 to eric87m

Member

to eric87m
This isn't as bad as it sounds I think, w/o knowing what he downloaded we can't say it is the RIAA who would sue him, I think what is likely here is that someone ran a hacked client and gathered IP addresses and sent out mass Copyright Infringement letters.

Little if anything will come from this as there is no real tangible evidence to take to court, just a few bytes that said yes that file is here; this was /. awhile back under Your Rights Online.
RoCJester
join:2006-12-20
Pottstown, PA

RoCJester

Member

856-317-7272 - Number to the Abuse Dept. If you have any questions about any DMCA Letters or anything regarding your acct and copyright infringement. Contact them.
K Patterson
Premium Member
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH

1 recommendation

K Patterson to Apollo729

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to Apollo729
said by Apollo729:

This isn't as bad as it sounds I think, w/o knowing what he downloaded we can't say it is the RIAA who would sue him, I think what is likely here is that someone ran a hacked client and gathered IP addresses and sent out mass Copyright Infringement letters.

This is almost certainly what happened.
said by Apollo729:

Little if anything will come from this as there is no real tangible evidence to take to court, just a few bytes that said yes that file is here; this was /. awhile back under Your Rights Online.
And they did this for their own amusement or thinking that notifying the infringer would stop the infringement?

The evidence they likely have is a copy of the infringer's shared directory, and copies of files they downloaded from it containing material for which they or their clients own the license.

Plenty of evidence to obtain a judgement, except that they don't really need to go that far in most cases. Once the infringer obtains counsel and learns what it will cost to defend they pay up.

Apollo729
join:2006-08-28
Avis, PA

Apollo729

Member

said by K Patterson:

And they did this for their own amusement or thinking that notifying the infringer would stop the infringement?
Yes, that is what they think, that is why they fish for IPs and send letters, to scare people into not doing it. Notice how many people post here and else where that they got those letters and nothing came of it?

They don't have proof of anything, if they did, they would sue, but the manner in which we are describing, does not get them any evidence of anything, just a reply from an IP that yes that file is here and they then send a letter off to the ISP to scare people.

They contract this out, a real company does this, as I said, it was posted to /. and digg before, it may have been an Ars Technica article.

If you look at the public documents from trials it becomes clear that they are just printing off the list of files that the file sharing app displays as being in your share folder, we are just guessing here, but it doesn't seem likely they have such a list, the OP is most likely a victim of IP farming.
K Patterson
Premium Member
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH

1 edit

K Patterson to eric87m

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to eric87m
Were there any enclosures with the letter?

Can you scan it and post it?
K Patterson

K Patterson to Apollo729

Premium Member

to Apollo729
I'm not sure what you mean by IP farming, that's a new term to me.

If it is RIAA, they use a firm called Media Sentry, and that firm not only looks at the shared directory, they also look at the contents of the files to see if they contain infringing material.
eric87m
join:2003-12-07
Washington, DC

eric87m to K Patterson

Member

to K Patterson
Thanks for the tips so far.

However, I typed
"notice of claim of copyright infringement" +comcast

in google and looked at the results.

I maybe jumping the gun but it doesn't look like I got in much trouble. It seems they mass email these letters as a scare tactic mostly. Someone even got 25 of them.
K Patterson
Premium Member
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH

K Patterson

Premium Member

They may be "mostly" a scare tactic.

What did you download? Music? Movie? Tv? Software?

Again, was there anything in the envelope besides a letter from Comcast?

Apollo729
join:2006-08-28
Avis, PA

1 edit

Apollo729 to K Patterson

Member

to K Patterson
I thought I did thoroughly explain it.

What they do is use a hacked client that sends fake packets out, it acts as a real client, but, all it does is farm for IP addresses, then they send letters, lots and lots of letters, as the OP said, some people get 25 of them and nothing happens.

They do get false hits with this method though.

Farm or Farming of course comes from MMO farming, to gather endlessly one item(gold, ore, etc...) to sell it for real world gain. The way I used it was to say that they farm or harvest IP addresses.
eric87m
join:2003-12-07
Washington, DC

eric87m

Member

^Ok, should I tell them I deleted it, never downloaded it, or just ignore it completely?

It was a HD-DVD Rip, Patterson. (I figured they went for the Xvid downloaders first :P )

Apollo729
join:2006-08-28
Avis, PA

Apollo729

Member

Just ignore it, unless it ask for action, does it ask you to do anything?

jbob
Reach Out and Touch Someone
Premium Member
join:2004-04-26
Little Rock, AR
·Comcast XFINITY
Asus GT-AX6000
Asus RT-AC66U B1

jbob to eric87m

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to eric87m
Well one thing, it's not DOWNLOADING that one get's into trouble with, it's sharing/distribution or whatever you wanna call it. If you upload it either after or while you are downloading(partial sharing) then it may be copyright infringement. At least that is my understanding. You just have to either find a P2P client that allows you to turn off partial sharing and/or not share the copyrighted work. Newsgroups!
eric87m
join:2003-12-07
Washington, DC

eric87m to Apollo729

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to Apollo729
No, apollo, same message that's all over the internet. Just says a copyright holder has notified Comcast of infringement, and states the file name and protocol.

Jbob, I usually use newsgroups too, I just didn't feel like paying for it this month, and look where it got me!

Rob916
@sbcglobal.net

Rob916

Anon

I received one of those 3 years ago. I ignored it and kept on doing what I was going and never heard anything again. I've changed ISP's recently but never again heard from Comcast again.

exocet_cm
Writing
Premium Member
join:2003-03-23
Brooklyn, NY

exocet_cm

Premium Member

said by Rob916 :

I received one of those 3 years ago. I ignored it and kept on doing what I was going and never heard anything again. I've changed ISP's recently but never again heard from Comcast again.
I've heard of people using their neighbor's connection for downloading copyrighted material...

Toadman
Hypnotoad
join:2001-11-28
Mystery

Toadman to Rob916

Member

to Rob916
said by Rob916 :

I received one of those 3 years ago. I ignored it and kept on doing what I was going and never heard anything again. I've changed ISP's recently but never again heard from Comcast again.
Changing ISP's is the best thing you can do. I would of contacted comcrap already and told them where they could shove the letter, it isn't there business to police and if it is a "scare tactic" then they obviously don't consider you the customer 1, but someone else. Go with an ISP that won't report you or has a record of usually not reporting people. A small ISP would be perfect.

BillRoland
Premium Member
join:2001-01-21
Ocala, FL

BillRoland

Premium Member

said by Toadman:
said by Rob916 :

I received one of those 3 years ago. I ignored it and kept on doing what I was going and never heard anything again. I've changed ISP's recently but never again heard from Comcast again.
Changing ISP's is the best thing you can do. I would of contacted comcrap already and told them where they could shove the letter, it isn't there business to police and if it is a "scare tactic" then they obviously don't consider you the customer 1, but someone else. Go with an ISP that won't report you or has a record of usually not reporting people. A small ISP would be perfect.
I could be mistaken but I believe they are required by the DMCA act to do something once they've been notified that one of their users is distributing copyrighted material.

juris doctor
@comcast.net

juris doctor to eric87m

Anon

to eric87m
Unless you receive an official "pre-settlement offer" you can discard the notification, but stop downloading. If you are not instructed to not dispose of the identified material, you are not restricted from destroying the material or reformatting your hard drive.

My son received an official notification through his university from the law firm representing the artists in the RIAA. This letter indicated that he could pre-settle for $3000 or they would file a John Doe lawsuit and subpoena his university to release his name. The cost to settle then would be much higher. The university indicated that they had not released his name, but would only if subpoenaed. It becomes a game of chance then, pay the $3K, or take you chances that they won't prosecute. All indications are that they are filing suits against the college students demanding $750 per downloaded item.

The letter also directs the recipient to not erase the suspect items under penalty of law.

You can pay the pre-settlement by credit card and having done so, you are instructed to destroy the downloaded material.

So if you have not received a pre-settlement offer, just take it as a warning.
brianiscool
join:2000-08-16
Tampa, FL

brianiscool to eric87m

Member

to eric87m
Why do you get so lucky?

Apollo729
join:2006-08-28
Avis, PA

Apollo729 to juris doctor

Member

to juris doctor
This isn't the same thing, he didn't get a letter from the law offices of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe, all he got was a warning letter.