Ebook Theft - It Really Happens! (The Sad End)

This is an update on the ebook author who found out her ebooks were being unlawfully distributed and hired an attorney to send the offending party a cease and desist letter (see Ebook Theft - It Really Happens and Ebook Theft - It Really Happens (Part 2).

The ebook author has dropped her pursuit of the company that was distributing her ebooks without her permission. The person from the offending party who her attorney initially had contact with and who appeared to be cooperating is no longer with the company, and his replacement is playing games and stalling. Her attorney believes the company is positioning itself to file bankruptcy, which apparently is an ongoing trend with that company. The attorney didn't want the ebook author to sink a bunch of money into going after the offending party, only to have them turn around and file bankruptcy.

So I guess that's that! It's pretty sad that theives usually get away with stealing and making money off of other people's creative work one way or another.

Ebook Theft - It Really Happens! (Part 2)

I promised that I would keep you updated on the situation with the ebook author who hired an attorney to send a cease and desist letter to the party that was unlawfully distributing copies of her ebook (See the original post Ebook Theft - It Really Happens!) The author has informed me that the offending party is being cooperative and communicating with her attorney. In addition, per the attorney's request, they are compiling an accounting of how many of her ebooks they distributed. The offending party has expressed an interest in entering an licensing agreement with the author in order to lawfully distribute her ebooks in the future.

Hopefully, the final outcome will be a positive one for the ebook author! I'll let you know if I get any more updates.

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Ebook Theft - It Really Happens!

I recently came into contact with an ebook author who found out in a round about way that copies of her ebooks were being given away without her permission. (To protect her privacy, I won't be mentioning her name or giving out any information that could reveal her identity.) When the author found out about her ebooks being unlawfully distributed, she immediately contacted an intellectual property rights attorney in the state where the offense occurred to find out what her options for recourse were.

The attorney's response was that he could write a cease and desist letter... and that to do the necessary research, compile the letter and follow up would cost approximately $2,000.00 US. If they ended up going to court, the cost could easily add up to $15,000.00 - $20,000.00 US(!) There would be no guarantee that the ebook author would be able to recover any of her legal fees or be rewarded any settlement money.

Because the ebook author had no idea how many copies were given away, it was a difficult decision for her to make as to whether spending the money for legal representation was worth it or not. In the end, she decided to go ahead and pay the $2,000.00 US to have the attorney do the cease and desist letter with hopes that she would be able to reach a settlement with the offending party without going to court.

I am not telling you this in order to use it as a scare tactic, but to show you that ebook theft is something that really happens. Thieves take advantage of the fact that they will probably get away with unlawfully distributing copies of ebooks because the legal fees are too costly for most small business owners to take legal action.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I'll keep you posted!

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