Cease and desist letter from Adobe

[abetterreality]

Hey all, I'm new here and come bearing a frustrating situation:

A couple months ago I won a film contest through the California Media Arts awards (Media Arts Award Competition - 2008). It's a competition open to community college students in CA, and is sponsored by many media-oriented organizations, one being Adobe software. As a prize, I won an academic copy of Adobe's CS4 Design Premium package. When the software was mailed to me, however, I was disappointed to find that it was a Windows version, while I use a Mac.

The Windows version is useless to me, and I thought that the software (new and unopened) was mine to sell, so I listed it on eBay with the intent of puting whatever I got for it toward the Mac version. You can guess what happened next--eBay shot down my auction and it was then I learned that academic software apparently can't be sold. After being notified by eBay I made no further attempts to sell my copy of CS4. I thought that would be the end of it.

This last Friday (June 26, 2009), however, I received an email from a company called "Gibney Anthony & Flaherty" demanding that I send them a check for $350.00, my copy of the "infringing merchandise," and identify the "suppliers" of that merchandise by July 3rd. The document is signed by John Macaluso. They also want me to sign and date the document.

The whole situation feels very wrong to me--this demand is the first time I have been contacted by these people, and I maintain that it was an honest mistake. I haven't made any attempt to sell the item after the eBay notice, in fact I have instead tried to contact Adobe directly to avoid what I now know to be illegal action. The item was not sold, I'm still sitting on it. I'd guess what I'd like to know is, can they do this to me? I'm not sure I understand what my crime is, or what they would charge against me. I'm an animation student who won the software, I didn't steal it or aquire it through illegitimate means. I did a search about this company, Gibney, and found a similar thread on this site regarding adidas jerseys (Cease and desist letter from adidas America, Inc.). There was a lot of interesting discussion about the firm and similar cease/desist letters, but I thought that my situation being software-related might make it different in some way.

As it stands now, I emailed them back explaining more or less everything I've stated here and am awaiting a week-day response. I was intending on calling this company tomorrow, Monday June 29th, to see if there's anything I can do to clear this up.

Any advice or support would help me greatly
Jake

They will not normally sue. Tell them what you said here and ignore them after that.

If they do so, you would likely win if you explain all just as you have done here.

Contact Ron Friedman (friedman@adobe.com), Associate General Counsel at Adobe Systems Incorporated: (408) 536-6747 or his mobile is (408) 612-1331. Be persistent, he's a busy man, but if you get him on the phone, he can be helpful.

Hi Jake,

I received the same letter at around the same time you did. I have not paid the firm $350. I have read some forums and they mention that signing the letter is like saying you are guilty. I listed one CS4 on ebay from an online wholesaler. The wholesaler I bought it from seems to be legitimate. I did not even sell the software; it was ended by ebay. Was it ended since it is an academic version? I do not know why my listing was even ended... I'm not sure why it was expected to be counterfeit. I look forward to your response.

Don't worry! They'll send you 2 letters to your house and 2 to your email and then they'll leave it alone. In some cases I've heard of them sending 3 letters but I think that is only if you try to contact them. This law firm sends out hundreds if not thousands of the same letters. Since your copy is legit and not counterfeit they'd look like fools trying to actually sue you. Plus unless the letter arrives via certified mail it isn't serious. Also, if you read it the letter closely by signing it you are admitting to selling fakes, and you weren't.

hey Jake,

how did you settle this misunderstanding? any advise?
have you tried to contact the law firm or adobe?

thanks!

I tried to sell me laptop on ebay with the programs that I had already had on my laptop and the software was not counterfeit but I misunderstood, thinking they were saying that you are not allowed to sell software at all and apologized to ebay for my mistake...not realizing that I didn't make a mistake at all, they did! I got a letter today too saying that I was selling Adobe software that is counterfeit and don't know what to do. I ended up taking the software off the computer and giving the laptop to a friend so can't even give them the software, even if they wanted it! How would they know whether my software is legit or not anyway? I think this is ridiculous and I believe that if I own the software (bought it) I can sell it installed on my computer if I want.

Originally Posted by Unregistered Don't worry! They'll send you 2 letters to your house and 2 to your email and then they'll leave it alone. In some cases I've heard of them sending 3 letters but I think that is only if you try to contact them. This law firm sends out hundreds if not thousands of the same letters. Since your copy is legit and not counterfeit they'd look like fools trying to actually sue you. Plus unless the letter arrives via certified mail it isn't serious. Also, if you read it the letter closely by signing it you are admitting to selling fakes, and you weren't.

I agree!