Recent Feedback
I have a situation regarding copyright infringement.I purchased an ebook (manual) which came in 5 pdf parts 3 years ago. This week, I emailed 2 parts of the book to some friends of mine from a mothers group. The author of the ebook was notified that I had forwarded part of the document, and has now messaged me via facebook claiming copyright infringement. The document retails for $39.00, the author is demanding $828.00 payable immediately or they will take legal action. This was an honest mistake, I had not opened the book since I purchased it so was not aware of any restrictions on forwarding to a third party. I naively thought it was the same as lending a copy of a hardcopy book to someone. When confronted by the author, I acknowledged that I was unaware there were restrictions on the document, and yes I had forwarded the document to twelve people within the group. I also confirmed that many of those had been returned to me as 'undeliverable' and I asked the recipients to confirm in writing to me who had received any of the documents. Four people have confirmed receipt of the document (or part of the document) and are willing to compensate the author at the applicable market value/current sale price, in return for receiving the complete document (as only a portion of the original 'package' was sent to them from me). I have met the authors demands in respect of publicly apologising for my error, and have been attempting to reasonably negotiate with them regarding the situation. Based on the figure I have been given, the author is demanding over twice the sale price for 12 infringements, payable immediately, or legal action will commence. I am unsure if I have any rights, given I acknowledged forwarding/attempting to forward part of the document to a third party? I am being messaged daily by the author demanding a response, but am really unsure as to what I should be doing or saying? Any advice would be appreciated.
Good Evening
Thank you :) As yet I have not sent any money, other than the initial purchase in 2009 of the book. The author is in Newcastle Australia.
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Thank you for responding to my question. Your information is extremely helpful, and very valuable to me at this point.
Experience: BEc Dip Ed, Dip Law (SAB) MTax (UNSW)
Thank you very much. You have been incredibly helpful, I am very grateful for your assistance.