Should I Sue?

13 years ago

Best thing to do is contact the free download site, if it's not hosted by the offender, and request to have it removed.

Lawsuit would probably just be a waste.

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Dash Evra

13 years ago

Originally Posted by mkt

I know I could sue, but its likely that I would never collect any damages.

I don't know whether it would be worth it to sue or not. It depends on what type of "intellectual property" you are talking about.

I am not a lawyer, but, there are cases similar to this where you can collect damages.

Not that long ago, a man uploaded a leaked version of the "X-men wolverine" movie to a free download site (before the movie was released in theater). It received a few millions download and was sued for a huge chunk of money. So, don't sell yourself short yet.

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James Sides 13 years ago

First, sorry to hear you've the victim of a crime. Isn't it amazing that people (the offender) forgets this is a REAL crime.

Second, I'd say you're probably in or a long and frustrating legal battle if you do sue but by all means if you're up for it Go Get Em! I think too many people rely on people not sueing these days.

Heck, I happen to know of a gentleman who ripped off one of the top selling products on Clickbank and fooled amazon into sticking it in their Kindle store. That merchant is still fighting with em over it.

Good Luck either way!

-James
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Alexa Smith

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by mkt

What do you do when you find out that someone uploaded your intellectual property to a free download site?

I'd contact the site with a pre-written email in which I'd "fill in a blank or two" and invite them to remove it.

If that doesn't work, I'd then just send a pre-written DMCA notice (again filling in a blank or two) with a copy to their registrar, their host, and Google. It takes only a moment to do and has a high success-rate.

Then I'd forget all about it and get on with building my business.

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Evan-M

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I'd contact the site with a pre-written email in which I'd "fill in a blank or two" and invite them to remove it.

If that doesn't work, I'd then just send a pre-written DMCA notice (again filling in a blank or two) with a copy to their registrar, their host, and Google. It takes only a moment to do and has a high success-rate.

Then I'd forget all about it and get on with building my business.

Not going to get much better advice than this.

Unless its a multi-million dollar product, the expense wouldn't be worth the time/effort/cost . not to mention they more than likely can't afford a payout, and even if you won would never collect.

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LiquidSeo

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I'd contact the site with a pre-written email in which I'd "fill in a blank or two" and invite them to remove it.

If that doesn't work, I'd then just send a pre-written DMCA notice (again filling in a blank or two) with a copy to their registrar, their host, and Google. It takes only a moment to do and has a high success-rate.

Then I'd forget all about it and get on with building my business.

Completely agree. As frustrating as it is, this is the best route.

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maxtout

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I'd contact the site with a pre-written email in which I'd "fill in a blank or two" and invite them to remove it.

If that doesn't work, I'd then just send a pre-written DMCA notice (again filling in a blank or two) with a copy to their registrar, their host, and Google. It takes only a moment to do and has a high success-rate.

Then I'd forget all about it and get on with building my business.

This is by far the best way to go.

Have you actually contacted the site?

You will normally find that the site owner will take your product off their site pretty quickly if you e-mail them.

Max
xxx

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Gary King

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I'd contact the site with a pre-written email in which I'd "fill in a blank or two" and invite them to remove it.

If that doesn't work, I'd then just send a pre-written DMCA notice (again filling in a blank or two) with a copy to their registrar, their host, and Google. It takes only a moment to do and has a high success-rate.

Then I'd forget all about it and get on with building my business.

Good input, BUT - don't waste time with an email, they will just ignore it.

If someone uploaded to a free download site, the ONLY thing they will respond to (in my experience) is a DCMA request... an email typically gets ignored (again, from my experience).

The problem is, once they remove it there, likely someone will upload it elsewhere.

If you want to chase it, try to find the original source (a forum for example) that LINKS to the free download site and send a DCMA to THAT forum asking the post to be removed.

It stinks and you can drive yourself crazy so give it your best shot and then move on to making more money.

All success,

Gary

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mkt

13 years ago

It is an e-book, so it isn't worth a lot.

The thing that bugs me even more is that the blog post is dated two months before I even wrote it. And they stole the copy from the sales page.

Complete scums

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Alexa Smith Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by mkt

It is an e-book, so it isn't worth a lot.

This tends to be the case - almost "by definition" - for digital products, but the real issue, of course, is the loss of potential profit. It's a variation of "opportunity cost", in a sense.

Don't listen to people who'll tell you that "people who download your product from a torrent site were never going to buy it anyway". This is palpable nonsense. There are huge numbers of people - especially these days - who will look round for free downloads of a product they want and then buy it only if they can't find one to steal. What's even more(?) alarming is that many of them don't really understand/acknowledge that they're doing anything wrong. :p :rolleyes:
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Tina Golden

13 years ago

Originally Posted by mkt

It is an e-book, so it isn't worth a lot.

Pretty sad when you create a product that you openly state "isn't worth a lot".

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mkt

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Tina Golden

Pretty sad when you create a product that you openly state "isn't worth a lot".

I meant that it isn't a multi-million dollar project. It is worth a lot in my world.

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Tina Golden

13 years ago

Originally Posted by mkt

I meant that it isn't a multi-million dollar project. It is worth a lot in my world.

Ah, I see what you meant.

Unfortunately, there is no way to collect damages if you haven't filed an official copyright but following Alexa's advice above will work most of the time to get stuff taken down.

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Bradley J Anderson

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Tina Golden

Ah, I see what you meant.

Unfortunately, there is no way to collect damages if you haven't filed an official copyright but following Alexa's advice above will work most of the time to get stuff taken down.

You don't have to file for an 'official' copyright if you put the copyright info in your product. It would still hold up in court, but good look finding the person, then filing the suit in THEIR state and having to travel back and forth to there for court dates, much less collecting any money.

Customers typically fall into 1 of 2 categories: those that pay for their products, and those that prefer 'pirated' copies.

I would follow Alexa's advice, then move on.

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Tina Golden

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Brad armPitt

You don't have to file for an 'official' copyright if you put the copyright info in your product. It would still hold up in court, but good look finding the person, then filing the suit in THEIR state and having to travel back and forth to there for court dates, much less collecting any money.

You cannot claim damages without the official copyright, or at least, you won't get awarded damages. Yes, you automatically own the copyright once you create it. I was referring to the possibility of suing for damages.

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ip3

13 years ago

Originally Posted by mkt

It is an e-book, so it isn't worth a lot.

The thing that bugs me even more is that the blog post is dated two months before I even wrote it. And they stole the copy from the sales page.

Complete scums

sorry to hear this happened to you...

The problem is that once its on the web its on the web! even if the host removes the file it will be uploaded elsewhere. suing is not going to help you, it will just waste time and money imo.

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JamesGw

13 years ago

I don't think you'll succeed in suing them, but you could file a DMCA complaint and probably get it taken down with the threat of legal action.

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CrescentReviews

13 years ago

Depending on the type of intellectual property it may or may not pay off to sue. For the most part the fools who go around breaking copyright and intellectual property laws aren't even worth the legal fees for suing them.

You can, however, report them to the hosting site. If the hosting site refuses to remove it, THEN you can sue and probably not lose out.

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Mreese601@gmail.com

13 years ago

Sadly to say but that's apart of business, when a retail open up a store outlet they factors in a certain % of loss merchandise. Same thing here online. People are going to steal your stuff. If it's not making 100,000 or more it's really want be worth your time and energy that it will take to go through a lawsuit.

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Should I Sue?

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