I need advice - Cease & Desist - Ever Got One?

[Jakawan]

Hello. I'm a fellow hustler.. always buying and selling something.. either on eBay, Amazon, Craigslist, Facebook, or anywhere possible.

A week or two ago, I got my first certified mail letter in my life. I didn't know what to do, or who it was from, so as the mailman stood there I did a quick google search for the sender; Johnson & Pham, LLP

I saw tons of posts saying that they blast out tons of letters demanding $15k to settle and some people said to ignore the letter because they're not going to pay someone to come serve you or sue you over something so small. So I ignored the letter, and didn't accept it.. which I now feel is dumb because now I don't know what was in the letter..

Then Friday I missed a call from an 818 number. She said she was an attorney at Johnson & Pham, hired by Adobe and was calling in regards to unauthorized sales of Adobe products on Amazon, and that they had sent me a cease and desist a couple weeks ago.

So here's what I did.. 13 months ago, back around February 2015, I bought a Nikon D3200 camera that came with a new copy of Adobe Lightroom 5, I wasn't going to use it, so I sold it on Amazon. Hustler Lighbulb came on and I said Wow! These sell for a lot! I looked at how much they were on eBay, and bought 4-5 more? Only shows I sold 3 on Amazon, not sure what happened to the rest as it was 13 months ago..

I didn't know this was illegal or that I was breaking any copyright infringements? All the products had keys and were brand new sealed in the box.. As far as I know they were genuine, and of course the one that came with my camera was legit.. I guess they REALLY are serious about not selling Adobe products that came in a camera or printer bundle..

I'm not sure what to do now.. if I just call her, won't my call be recorded and she could ask me questions and use my answers against me? I've read some articles online that say never directly contact a plaintiff's attorney directly.. I appreciate any advice, hope this isn't a big deal and that I'm stressing over nothing..

 

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[GuestUserX09]

Literally just stop doing what your doing and you should be fine and they will drop it.

I made a music playing app in 2012 that used the colors of Beats audio and I called it "Better Beats Music Player"... About 300 downloads later, they sent a cease and desist- I removed the app that same day and never heard from them again.

 

[Captain Jack]

I thought your question was interesting so I did some research and found this thread:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=231676

Also, Adobe is one of the company that strictly monitors Amazon listing for "Unauthorized Dealers" So I would avoid any Adobe products. They are very pro-active in reporting users without WARNING.

Based on this, it sounds like you're lucky that your Amazon account wasn't suspended (which can be a death knell, from what I hear). I'd be surprised if they are taking serious legal action against you for something so small, but who knows.

Sounds like it's best to avoid selling Adobe products though without prior authorization from that company.

 

[Jakawan]

I found this in my searches.
https://www.resavr.com/comment/adobe-threatening-sue-me-612493

Literally just stop doing what your doing and you should be fine and they will drop it.

I made a music playing app in 2012 that used the colors of Beats audio and I called it "Better Beats Music Player"... About 300 downloads later, they sent a cease and desist- I removed the app that same day and never heard from them again.

I stopped 13 months ago, it was a one time deal.

I thought your question was interesting so I did some research and found this thread:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=231676



Based on this, it sounds like you're lucky that your Amazon account wasn't suspended (which can be a death knell, from what I hear). I'd be surprised if they are taking serious legal action against you for something so small, but who knows.

Sounds like it's best to avoid selling Adobe products though without prior authorization from that company.

Yea, my Amazon account is fine for now. I was hoping they wouldn't take any legal action or even try to contact me because they're busy with so many other bigger fish.. but this is the only time I've sold Adobe products, and I thought it was mine to sell since it came with my Camera.. Like if I got a copy of Halo 5 with my Xbox, and to alleviate some of the cost of my Xbox, I sold Halo 5 for $50.

 

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[OldFaithful]

I don't know if your local post office still has the letter, but I'd call and ask. If so, pick it up and see what it said. If it sounds like more legal action may follow, go straight to a lawyer's office. The fee for the lawyer's time is a good investment against future problems. That's my 0.02

 

[Bruh]

Why are they sending you a cease and desist when you already stopped 13 months ago? Do you still have the item listed or are you still listed as a seller somehow?

 

[Victor Lomax]

I would recommend taking possession of the letter they sent. Most likely it's a "stop doing it and all is good" letter, but just in case there is more to it than that, you'd rather know now than to get a summons for a lawsuit. Again, unlikely that it's more than just a basic cease and desist, but doesn't hurt to be certain.

Note: I'm not an attorney.

This is the best advice IMO. A cease and desist is just that....STOP. But, as you said, the curious thing is that it came so late AFTER you had already stopped?

 

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[Vigilante]

ambulance chasers

 

[Vigilante]

Companies like Adobe spend literally billions of dollars to create IP -- if they didn't have a right to enforce how it's distributed, they'd be out of business.

In fact, the entire premise of creating laws to protect IP is that it gives people/companies incentives to invest in innovation. If people/companies couldn't protect their patents, trade marks and copyright, what incentive would they have to create the IP in the first place?

More to the point, if you created valuable IP, how would you feel if someone was illegally selling it or devaluing it, and taking profits out of your pocket?

If your answer is that companies like this shouldn't be going after little guys who are only selling one or two illegal copies, keep in mind that if you don't protect your IP -- even from the little guys! -- your legal rights with respect to that IP will erode. Do some research on "naked licensing" and you'll see an example of what I mean.

My point being if they are coming after him more than a year after the infraction ceased then they are simply looking to collect fees, not enforce intellectual property

 

[Vigilante]

This practice is infamous and well known. They file thousands of these hoping for hundreds of settlements. Ambulance chasers.

 

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[Georgy]

Something similar like this happened to me. I received a letter from Getty Images who are infamous for sending Cease & Desist emails. A web guy I hired to fix up my website used a Getty image without buying it and I got email bombed by Getty.

The email looked like it came out of a Forensics Lab where they dissected my website, and showed the image I used with the coding on my website, etc etc...

So I did a search and found out this is where Getty makes most of their money by sending intimidating letters where you need to pay a $1000 fine or something. But I just removed the image and never heard from them again. Claim was dropped. But they don't mention this in the email. They want you to pay the fine, however, removing the image solves everything.

In your case it's a little different since you sold these products in the past but aren't selling anymore. I'm not a lawyer and anything written here should not be taken as legal advice.

 

[Rudynate]

however, removing the image solves everything.

You hope. I get calls all the time from people who have heard from Getty Images. They take the image(s) down and hope that Getty will go away, and they don't. Getty's position is that, even though the image is no longer being improperly used, infringement has already occurred and they are entitled to the licensing revenue they would have received if the image(s) had been properly licensed.

 

[Georgy]

You hope. I get calls all the time from people who have heard from Getty Images. They take the image(s) down and hope that Getty will go away, and they don't. Getty's position is that, even though the image is no longer being improperly used, infringement has already occurred and they are entitled to the licensing revenue they would have received if the image(s) had been properly licensed.

Geez... looks like I got lucky with Getty then. It's never pleasant getting something like that in the mail, or an email. Maybe the fact that I took it down instantly and the image was only up for less than a week contributed to their dropping, but who knows

 

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[Rudynate]

There is an attorney in New York who has made responding to letters from Getty Images into sort of a sub-specialty. Anyone who calls me, I refer them to him.

 

[Ubermensch]

I've never gotten a cease and desist letter, because - as a BO$$ - I only do legitimate business.

Literally just stop doing what your doing and you should be fine and they will drop it.

Best. Advice. Ever.

OP should stop messing around doing fake business and start selling real services for a legitimate company.