Hello, i am new to this forum but i am certain that any of you can help me as i have no knowledge of law or rights. Please be as fair as possible to me, I have a dozen more problems on my plate aside from this. But I have hope that I can come out a bit more educated after this.
First and foremost, I will start by giving a background of myself.
I am a 19 year old Sophomore college student studying Electrical Engineering. I am by no means just simply attending. I am here through grants and loans. My parents are both unemployed and are busy trying to provide for my baby brother. If anything i am in debt. The semester started, fees piled up that my aid could not cover. Jobs are extremely difficult to get in the UCF Orlando area. I have no car and no assets for them to even collect. I then turned to copying the PDF from a CD that i had and offering it up for sale. I know this isn't right but I had no other choice but to get money or get late fees accumulated on my account therefore holding my schooling. Ebay took down my posts (many of other people's are still up) and I received a letter from "Cengage Learning" if it's actually them telling me to sign and agree to all these things AND pay $250 as a compensation for my infringement. I have 10 days to do so or they will commence a lawsuit. Now I know that that is not a large sum of money but considering where i am now with a negative sum of money, it might as well be $1000 or whatever. Here's what they said.
Cengage Learning
33228 W. 12 Mile Rd.
P.O. Box 180
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
Dear _____:
Let me introduce myself. I am the Infringement & Anti-Piracy Paralegal for Cengage Learning and I am responsible, along with others, for protecting the copyright interests of our company. Cengage Learning has recently discovered that you are illegally engaged in selling material that infringes Cengage Learning's copyright through the eBay auction site.
The eBay user agreement, to which you have agreed, states that you, as a Seller, may not "violate any laws, third party rights, or …policies such as the Prohibited and Restricted Items policies." Moreover, under the Copyright Act, the owner of the copyright in a work has the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer. 17 U.S.C. §§106(1) and (3). Notwithstanding the law, and your eBay User Agreement, on April 29th you offered for sale illegal copies of the following Cengage Learning product(s):
Calculus: Early Transcendentals by James Stewart.
Complete Solution Manual for Calculus: Early Transcendentals by James Stewart.
Key Legal Principles
We encourage you to take legal advice at this stage. However, it may be useful to explain certain aspects of copyright law here.
1. What damages can a court award in a copyright infringement case?
Cengage Learning regularly registers copyrights in the works it publishes. Accordingly, it may elect to recover in litigation, for each work infringed, either actual damages, or statutory damages of "not less than $750.00 or more than $30,000.00 as the court considers just." 17 U.S.C.§504(c)(1). This amount may be increased to $150,000.00 per work if the infringement is willful. 17 U.S.C.§504(c)(2). Blatant piracy will almost always be deemed "willful."
2. What if I am sued and choose to ignore it?
If you are sued by Cengage Learning, you will need to hire a lawyer to defend the case, or defend the case yourself. If you do neither, Cengage Learning will ask the court to enter a "default judgment" in the maximum amount of damages allowed by law. Such a judgment would then be enforced against you by, e.g., attaching your bank accounts and other assets.
3. Who pays attorneys' fees?
Under the Copyright Act, the court may, in its discretion, award Cengage Learning its costs and attorney's fees in bringing this action. 17 U.S.C. §505. See Basic Books, Inc. v Kinko's Graphics Corp., 758 F. Supp. 1522 (S.D.N.Y. 1991). In all events, you will be liable for your own costs and fees, which conservatively could exceed $40,000.00 through trial, for a case that you will lose.
Acceptable Resolutions
Cengage Learning is willing to settle this claim early if we can avoid the inconvenience of a lawsuit. This can be done only if you respond promptly to this letter by agreeing to:
1. Cease making, distributing, and offering for sale, unauthorized copies of our material;
2. Destroy any and all illegal copies of our material presently in your possession or control;
3. Agree that if you infringe upon Cengage Learning's copyrights in the future, you consent to the entry of damages against you in the amount of $5,000 per copy; and
4. Pay to Cengage Learning the sum of $400 as compensation for your infringement. Payment must be made in the form of a cashiers check payable to "Cengage Learning."
Please sign and return one copy of this letter to my attention at the address below within 10 business days of your receipt thereof, along with the specified payment, as evidence of your agreement to the above. This offer expires after 10 business days, at which time we reserve the right to commence a lawsuit without further notice.
Then it prompts me to sign.
This is the first time i've ever had legal problems and I don't know what to do or how to even approach the case. And i KNOW that i can't just write a letter and become vulnerable to whatever they want to get out of me. At least i'm not that dense. This has just added to all the stress I already have.. And it is getting ridiculous. I know i need to take action but is this Legitimate? What do I do? Thank you in advance for reading this and trying to help.
First and foremost, I will start by giving a background of myself.
I am a 19 year old Sophomore college student studying Electrical Engineering. I am by no means just simply attending. I am here through grants and loans. My parents are both unemployed and are busy trying to provide for my baby brother. If anything i am in debt. The semester started, fees piled up that my aid could not cover. Jobs are extremely difficult to get in the UCF Orlando area. I have no car and no assets for them to even collect. I then turned to copying the PDF from a CD that i had and offering it up for sale. I know this isn't right but I had no other choice but to get money or get late fees accumulated on my account therefore holding my schooling. Ebay took down my posts (many of other people's are still up) and I received a letter from "Cengage Learning" if it's actually them telling me to sign and agree to all these things AND pay $250 as a compensation for my infringement. I have 10 days to do so or they will commence a lawsuit. Now I know that that is not a large sum of money but considering where i am now with a negative sum of money, it might as well be $1000 or whatever. Here's what they said.
Cengage Learning
33228 W. 12 Mile Rd.
P.O. Box 180
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
Dear _____:
Let me introduce myself. I am the Infringement & Anti-Piracy Paralegal for Cengage Learning and I am responsible, along with others, for protecting the copyright interests of our company. Cengage Learning has recently discovered that you are illegally engaged in selling material that infringes Cengage Learning's copyright through the eBay auction site.
The eBay user agreement, to which you have agreed, states that you, as a Seller, may not "violate any laws, third party rights, or …policies such as the Prohibited and Restricted Items policies." Moreover, under the Copyright Act, the owner of the copyright in a work has the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer. 17 U.S.C. §§106(1) and (3). Notwithstanding the law, and your eBay User Agreement, on April 29th you offered for sale illegal copies of the following Cengage Learning product(s):
Calculus: Early Transcendentals by James Stewart.
Complete Solution Manual for Calculus: Early Transcendentals by James Stewart.
Key Legal Principles
We encourage you to take legal advice at this stage. However, it may be useful to explain certain aspects of copyright law here.
1. What damages can a court award in a copyright infringement case?
Cengage Learning regularly registers copyrights in the works it publishes. Accordingly, it may elect to recover in litigation, for each work infringed, either actual damages, or statutory damages of "not less than $750.00 or more than $30,000.00 as the court considers just." 17 U.S.C.§504(c)(1). This amount may be increased to $150,000.00 per work if the infringement is willful. 17 U.S.C.§504(c)(2). Blatant piracy will almost always be deemed "willful."
2. What if I am sued and choose to ignore it?
If you are sued by Cengage Learning, you will need to hire a lawyer to defend the case, or defend the case yourself. If you do neither, Cengage Learning will ask the court to enter a "default judgment" in the maximum amount of damages allowed by law. Such a judgment would then be enforced against you by, e.g., attaching your bank accounts and other assets.
3. Who pays attorneys' fees?
Under the Copyright Act, the court may, in its discretion, award Cengage Learning its costs and attorney's fees in bringing this action. 17 U.S.C. §505. See Basic Books, Inc. v Kinko's Graphics Corp., 758 F. Supp. 1522 (S.D.N.Y. 1991). In all events, you will be liable for your own costs and fees, which conservatively could exceed $40,000.00 through trial, for a case that you will lose.
Acceptable Resolutions
Cengage Learning is willing to settle this claim early if we can avoid the inconvenience of a lawsuit. This can be done only if you respond promptly to this letter by agreeing to:
1. Cease making, distributing, and offering for sale, unauthorized copies of our material;
2. Destroy any and all illegal copies of our material presently in your possession or control;
3. Agree that if you infringe upon Cengage Learning's copyrights in the future, you consent to the entry of damages against you in the amount of $5,000 per copy; and
4. Pay to Cengage Learning the sum of $400 as compensation for your infringement. Payment must be made in the form of a cashiers check payable to "Cengage Learning."
Please sign and return one copy of this letter to my attention at the address below within 10 business days of your receipt thereof, along with the specified payment, as evidence of your agreement to the above. This offer expires after 10 business days, at which time we reserve the right to commence a lawsuit without further notice.
Then it prompts me to sign.
This is the first time i've ever had legal problems and I don't know what to do or how to even approach the case. And i KNOW that i can't just write a letter and become vulnerable to whatever they want to get out of me. At least i'm not that dense. This has just added to all the stress I already have.. And it is getting ridiculous. I know i need to take action but is this Legitimate? What do I do? Thank you in advance for reading this and trying to help.