What to do if I received a cease-and-desist letter from a 3rd party company for allegedly selling their copyrighted material online?
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What to do if I received a cease-and-desist letter from a 3rd party company for allegedly selling their copyrighted material online?
They ask for $199.95 for each time that I purchased, attempted to sell or sold our products illegally, agree in writing to never sell our product illegally again and provide the names of the people I obtained the illegal product from and those to whom I sold it. They threaten to pursue legal action if these demands are not met within 5 days. How do I know that they won’t come after me after I send this to them? What should I do?
Asked on December 19, 2011 under Business Law, Ohio
Answers:
MD, Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
You need to hire a copyright attorney immediately who has experience with litigation and figure out if a) this company is on the up and up and b) if you truly violated copyright law and see if you can resolve this in a much cheaper way. Ultimately, you want to make sure you protect yourself before you wind up with criminal charges in addition to any civil liability. Talk to a copyright lawyer and begin research copyright law with the U.S. Copyright Office so you can be more informed of the laws and be better able to communicate with your lawyer about potential issues.
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