I got a Cease & Desist. Please help?

Today, I received a Cease and Desist letter, via e-mail, from Johnson & Pham, LLP. It is in regards to a posting on eBay I made where I was selling a copy of Adobe Master Collection CS6. I obtained this copy through my university as I go to an art school. Bear in mind it was just a serial number that would be activated by downloading the trial. It was a legitimate, never-used serial number though.

I posted the listing ob eBay, and within that same day, it was removed by eBay for copyright violation. I thought everything was okay, I left the listing down. Nowhere in eBay's message to me did it say I would be getting any type of legal action.

The C&D basically states that I must forfeit all "counterfeit" copies of any Adobe products I own, and delete and destroy them. I don't have any other copies. It also states that I must pay $779.70 for investigative fees and such. I don't have that kind of money lying around.

Also bear in mind, this happened April 14th, nearly 4 months ago. Is that an appropriate time frame to announce this to me?

I have never been in this type of situation before and I'm a little frightened. I've looked up the company which sent this to me, and I've read mixed opinions about this being a scam, and this not being a scam. Would they have contacted me through paper mail? Has anyone heard of this company before?

Please help, or give me some advice. I am totally lost as of now. If you need any more info or I missed something, just ask. Attached below is the letter they sent me.


-- Cameron

Huge scam, ignore it.

These companies always send notices such as this via physical snail mail (USPS). There should also be a case number, which I did not see one although I only quickly skimmed it.

Delete and forget about it. Trust me.

I posted this on /r/legaladvice on Reddit and I have people telling me not to ignore it and to talk to an attorney.

Go to a law firm around wherever you live and ask them for some advise, surely they shouldn't force you to hire them just for them to give you advise.

I would ignore it myself.

If I were to ignore it, then I could possible face monetary damages 7-10 times more than what they're asking for. Or more. I don't think ignoring it is on my radar.

the internet these days seems all of our freedom is being taken away sooner or later they would be a ebay customs department

Dude, I'm telling you, email is not a legal written notice. You must be contacted in person or by certified snail mail.

Why do you think people still have to be served court papers? You can't send someone an email and legally require them to show up in court. Certified mail and in person delivery are the only ways they can contact you to take legal action.

If you want a second opinion then stop asking the internet for legal advice and go see a reputable local lawyer. They'll look at it, laugh, then tell you to have a good day.

Still want convincing? Look at this:

Quote:

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4. You must pay Seven Hundred Seventy-nine Dollars Seventy Cents ($779.70) bycertified check made payable to Johnson & Pham, LLP - Client Trust Account, to
compensate Adobe for its investigative and legal costs, as well as the damages
sustained by Adobe as a result of your infringement and/or unauthorized use of its
intellectual property rights.

---

They directly instruct you to pay via certified check and certified check only, however they include a form for requesting credit card information. Seriously?

You need to read this shit carefully and you'll have your answer. I'd also advise against asking reddit for legal help... We all know how "right" reddit uesrs thinks they are until someone gets fucked over.

Sorry for being so harsh sounding, just looking out for you. At least go see a local law firm as said above for a second opinion if you still don't believe me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Radeyo

Dude, I'm telling you, email is not a legal written notice. You must be contacted in person or by certified snail mail.

Why do you think people still have to be served court papers? You can't send someone an email and legally require them to show up in court. Certified mail and in person delivery are the only ways they can contact you to take legal action.

If you want a second opinion then stop asking the internet for legal advice and go see a reputable local lawyer. They'll look at it, laugh, then tell you to have a good day.

Still want convincing? Look at this:



They directly instruct you to pay via certified check and certified check only, however they include a form for requesting credit card information. Seriously?

You need to read this shit carefully and you'll have your answer. I'd also advise against asking reddit for legal help... We all know how "right" reddit uesrs thinks they are until someone gets fucked over.

Sorry for being so harsh sounding, just looking out for you. At least go see a local law firm as said above for a second opinion if you still don't believe me.

---

You raise a good point.

I forwarded the e-mail to my mom, who is a paralegal at a healthcare company and she's having one of the attorneys she works for look it over. I actually am ignoring it for now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Savage

You raise a good point.

I forwarded the e-mail to my mom, who is a paralegal at a healthcare company and she's having one of the attorneys she works for look it over. I actually am ignoring it for now.

---

Haha, good to hear. Keep us posted. :P

I'd take RZ advice on C&D notices over reddit any day. I'd guess half of the server owners on here have received fakes so have good experience in this stuff.

As Radeyo said, emails of this nature are bullshit. Quite simply if this was legit, there is literally no reason they couldn't have easily found your postal address. Considering the money they would be getting paid by Adobe for this stuff, don't you think they could afford a proper letter? A letter probably costs about 1min of the cost of hiring an actual legal firm...

The letter looks generic, like they are fishing for you to admit to something.

Call the Police...

Sent from my Lt28at using Tapatalk 4 Beta

If you see this, that means it's 1-6 AM for me...

It's a scam...a simple Google search found this:

http://www.justanswer.com/intellectu...p-wanting.html

He sold some P90X on Ebay and they sent him pretty much the same letter.

You 2 aren't the only ones...here's 3 more:

Complaints for Johnson & Pham, LLP | 100095210 | Business Consumer Alliance

There's some good advice on that first link about sending a letter back to them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Robert

I'd guess half of the server owners on here have received fakes so have good experience in this stuff.

---

Dead correct. I receive on average 2 or 3 of these per month when running servers. If I sent my CC info to each person who contacted me with similar looking letters I'd be deep in debt.

Emails now a days are starting to get scary, I even got an email coming from an FBI saying I used my email on illegal reasons lol.