Should i pay copyright settlements

But still, she advises Canadians not to pay settlement fees when they receive a notice from their ISP. She says the notices may not reflect the legal reality of what an illegal downloader could be required to pay. She says people are asked to pay settlement fees, when there's no proof of a law being broken. If there aren't any rules around what can go into these notices, Canadians are unsure about whether or not this is actually a real threat to them and that is where ultimately the confusion comes in," says Sali.

Sali says other cases can involve so-called "copyright trolls", companies hired by copyright holders to go after illegal downloaders. She says "copyright trolls" bank on fears of further legal action even when there is no proof of guilt.

They know it's difficult to win and what they'd like you to do is settle outside of court and that's really where this bullying behaviour comes in," says Sali. Mycroft says the files he is being accused of downloading are pornographic movies. He says he's looked back at the dates in question, and he suspects it may have been a friend he had over to his place that day, but he isn't sure. Sali says Open Media has heard from many Canadians who've been pursued for files with explicit titles.

They know that these people would be embarrassed if this came to light. Essentially what this amounts to is a shakedown," says Sali. So, you will probably end up paying more by taking your case to trial than by ignoring it completely. For a Guide on Copyright Infringement Notices read this article. By this point, I imagine you are on the verge of frustration. Fortunately, there is a third option: settling. In a copyright infringement case, you would agree to pay the copyright owner, and they would agree to never sue you over the specific instances of copyright infringement that they are accusing you of.

Settling is a better option because if your settlement is handled properly by a competent attorney, you will end up paying far less money than what you would have owed if you lost by default or lost at trial. This is because your attorney will negotiate a lower rate than what would be applied in court.

And with a lower rate, you end up paying far less damages in total. Read more about Copyright Infringement Defenses here. You should aim to settle your case as soon as possible, as the price of your settlement will go up over time. In this real-life case, John R.

Pay close attention to all the moments where John had the opportunity to take action but instead did nothing, and consider how damaging this was to his case. We will do this to underscore an important point about copyright infringement cases: the time to do something begins long before your case ends up in court.

We are able to guess quite confidently what happened early in this case because we know how these types of copyright infringement cases work. The copyright owner who sued John, Malibu Media , is an adult film company well known for making a business out of suing people who illegally download their adult content.

There are at least a few companies operating these sorts of copyright lawsuit schemes, and they all work in more or less the same way:. The court responded by setting a hearing asking John to show why he should not lose the case by default. Though he received official notice of this hearing, again, John did nothing and failed to show up.

In turn, the court entered a default judgment against him and asked Malibu Media to propose how much John should have to pay in damages. They also explained exactly why John lost the case. But, if you look closely at how the court explains its reasoning, you get a sense of how damaging it is to ignore your copyright infringement lawsuit completely.

Notice how easy it is for the copyright owner to win when the other party ignores the lawsuit entirely. Making a valid copyright infringement claim is relatively simple. You just have to show you own a valid copyright and the other person copied the work without your permission. The copyright owner brings the lawsuit precisely because they are confident they can satisfy these requirements. So, in this case, Malibu Media only brought the lawsuit in the first place because they were confident that they had a valid copyright and evidence that John violated it.

This is why when you do nothing in your case, you are all but guaranteed to lose and be held liable. Once the case gets to court, the court takes your silence as agreement. If you do contact the Plaintiffs, either do not answer questions that cause confusion or hurt your case, and if necessary, break off communication. You do not have to answer any questions, so do not lie or misrepresent facts.

Keep in mind that even if you own and paid for a physical DVD of a movie, the law generally still does not allow you to download another copy of that movie from an improper source like BitTorrent simply for entertainment purposes.

Therefore, telling the Plaintiff that you did download the movie in question but that you also own the movie will NOT help your case. It will actually HURT your case significantly. In a few uncharacteristic cases, the courts have prevented Plaintiffs from continuing for a variety of technical reasons.

Defendants like you in those cases were in a much more favorable position simply because they waited to settle while actively monitoring their case. In many cases, the courts allow Plaintiffs to obtain individual names from your Internet Access Provider.

Once your name is released, there is a possibility that they could amend the lawsuit to include your name or file an individual lawsuit against you in your jurisdiction if you do not settle in the time requested. The prospect of suing hundreds or thousands of people individually is time and resource intensive for plaintiffs, but there is always the possibility of individual suits even if the chances are low that an individual lawsuit would be filed. Lawsuits like these are based on the fact that it's much less expensive for an individual to settle rather than hire a lawyer and fight this process.

We realize what a bad position that puts defendants like you in. We hope this guide provides a bit of orientation so you can figure out the best path forward. If you thought you gained something from this discussion, please consider supporting our work at by donating , sharing this guide through Twitter and liking us on Facebook. Why is this happening to me? An analogy might help. Imagine the Plaintiffs collect IP addresses like tuna fisherman cast their tuna nets.

Also, some of the tuna they caught in the net will manage to swim out before the net is pulled up. Can I report them? Can I sue them back? Said differently, while a number of courts are having less patience for these lawsuits, many suits have been allowed to proceed and individual names released.

Am I liable for my adult children's or their friends' internet activities while they are using our internet access? Once again, we want to thank the California Consumer Protection Foundation for their support, which allowed this guide to be created. Value free legal services for internet users like you? Support them. What's the best way to avoid legal problems for your business or creative work?

Read our book! Paperback Ebook Audiobook. Ever wonder when you can reuse music, photo, or film clips from other sources? Find out with our interactive Fair Use App. You can find our video guides here. Legal Services we provide. Law school IP and entrepreneurship clinics list. Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright Law. How to find free music, images, and video you can use or remix in your own creative works.

Stop unwanted texts and calls. Taking a few simple steps upfront to protect your business or project can save time and money down the road. Professors can request a FREE evaluation copy. Skip to main content. What are your options right now? Things to know about the settlement letter you will receive Things to consider when responding to the settlement letter Should I hire a lawyer?

Should I settle now? At this time, New Media Rights is not acting as counsel in these cases because of our limited resources. Whether you should spend money on a lawyer or not in these types of cases is also an unsettled question. There are so many different plaintiffs and different modes of trying to do business that it's impossible to know C whether that lawyer's negotiation would be so successful in lowering the settlement that it would be worth the cost of the lawyer.

For those who clearly know they have downloaded the file, it will be less prudent for them to ignore the settlements, and the benefits of hiring a lawyer are more dubious.

B what specific results have been achieved for other defendants like yourself in the past by taking those steps and. C whether the lawyer's charge will be an hourly rate or a percentage of the money you save if a lower settlement is negotiated.