eric87m
join:2003-12-07
Princeton, NJ
edit:
May 30th, @05:59PM
| 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. |
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lutherberry
join:2005-11-28
Keystone Heights, FL | Prepare to write a very big check |
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Wayne99021
Premium
join:2004-12-28
Mead, WA | reply 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. |
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Hydroshock
join:2002-09-12
Colorado Springs, CO
| reply 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. |
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Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs: 
| reply 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.
--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic! |
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WickedWinter
join:2003-08-02
Tybee Island, GA
edit:
May 30th, @10:46AM
| 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. |
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K Patterson
Premium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| reply 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:
»recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.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!! |
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DMS1
join:2005-04-06
Carrollton, TX
| reply 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). |
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Apollo729
join:2006-08-28
Avis, PA
| reply 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.
--
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 |
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RoCJester
join:2006-12-20
Pottstown, PA | 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. |
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K Patterson
Premium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply 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. |
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Apollo729
join:2006-08-28
Avis, PA
| 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.
--
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 |
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K Patterson
Premium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH
edit:
May 30th, @03:39PM
| reply to eric87m
Were there any enclosures with the letter?
Can you scan it and post it? |
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K Patterson
Premium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply 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. |
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eric87m
join:2003-12-07
Princeton, NJ
| reply 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. |
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K Patterson
Premium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH | 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? |
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Apollo729
join:2006-08-28
Avis, PA
edit:
May 30th, @05:37PM
| reply 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.
--
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 |
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eric87m
join:2003-12-07
Princeton, NJ | ^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 ) |
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