Solidworks/CJCH - copyright threat germany

[suckerpunch]

I have received the same letter om Friday from CJCH solicitors for Ansys infringement ..what i should do guys ??

[dx100uk]

ignore as everyone else has

 

dx

[suckerpunch]

They have also CCed people from ansys as well ..they have found my company and found my email addresses as well ..they have asked me to reply by 4th Dec ?? I have received this email from UK office and I am in Germany ..

 

Also do they have all the simulation file logs as well ?? I haven't used it for any commercial but for my own learnings ..but i can't prove it as well but can they ??

[cmas]

Dam these ambulance chasers.

 

So did you receive a letter addressed to you?

 

Or did your company receive the letter and they are reaching out to you? 

[suckerpunch]

Thanks @dx100uk @cmas for your reply 

 

Letter is addressed to me with my company address ..i guess they took everything from my website ..

 

This is my small company which is in struggling phase trying to do something ..don't have any money to give it to them ..i dot not have any registered office in Germany and company is registered in India.. 

 

What i should do guys suggest me ?? 

 

It seems they have my company details, my details, ip address they monitored 

 

[cmas]

So they have collected your email address from the monitoring software. Used the domain to connect it to your business.

 

You do not use a VPN?

 

Does your company offer a product or service that could theoretically make use of this Ansys software package?  

Edited November 28, 2020 by cmas

[dx100uk]

8 minutes ago, ashmess said:

What i should do guys suggest me ?? 

 

you ignore them totally

 

dx

 

[dx100uk]

own topic created please post here now

 

[cmas]

yea if u respond to them, you open a can of worms and they wont ever go away.

In responding you verify they have your contact details right.

In responding you also acknowledge you have enough assets to risk loosing that warrant you to reply in an attempt to settle the matter.

 

Replying only gives them more ammunition then they already have.

 

Its unlikely but possible they file a case.

 

Bounced and blocked been 2+ months since they have tried to reach me … 

Edited November 28, 2020 by cmas

[dx100uk]

never respond as they have no way of knowing if you ever get the emails anyway

VPN doesn't help either..old wives tale.

 

the details are harvested by the software upon installation and are emailed out via their own smp imbedded in the installation.

it also emails out whenever you do certain things with files too.

 

careful monitoring via one of the many port scanners will show the active smtp port. close it

[suckerpunch]

28 minutes ago, cmas said:

So they have collected your email address from the monitoring software. Used the domain to connect it to your business.

 

You do not use a VPN?

 

Does your company offer a product or service that could theoretically make use of this Ansys software package?  

I have not used VPN its my mistakee 

 

Yes my company offers products and services in similar domains .. 

 

4 minutes ago, dx100uk said:

never respond as they have no way of knowing if you ever get the emails anyway

VPN doesn't help either..old wives tale.

 

the details are harvested by the software upon installation and are emailed out via their own smp imbedded in the installation.

it also emails out whenever you do certain things with files too.

 

careful monitoring via one of the many port scanners will show the active smtp port. close it

I have just shut down the pc and uninstall everything for now .. but i am sure they will keep .... my brain .. 

[cmas]

damn, what's the software, how much is a license?

 

[suckerpunch]

i believe it is more than 40k USD .. 

Ansys Electronics Desktop

[cmas]

VPN does create extra plausible deniability. You could have accessed your email from a friends computer. Since all they really have is your email domain name. But if they also have the IP registered to you, then its harder to explain away two coincidences. 

Edited November 28, 2020 by cmas

[dx100uk]

eh?

it harvests actively used email addresses on the installation machine via the pop/smtp server use

simplest way is if you ever are going to pirate these types of software is to run it in a sandbox.

then it can't do anything with you allowing it.

 

 

[dx100uk]

13 minutes ago, ashmess said:

I have just shut down the pc and uninstall everything for now .. but i am sure they will keep .... my brain .. 

so pray tell me

how do they know you got the email?

scamming you for xmas mate.

 

 

[suckerpunch]

Yes @dx100ukthey dont know if i have received it or not .. but who knows they might use some software to check if you have seen the email or not  ?`

 

@cmas what finally happened in your case ? 

 

My problem is my company is involved with this which can make things very difficult for me .. we do wish to buy this license but the costs are very very heavy. 

 

Do you know they force only to buy license or put penalties as well ? If you guys have heard of any cases ? 

 

For now I am not going to reply .. as they have given me date of 4th Dec .. let's see what happens after that .. 

[dx100uk]

any penalties are unlawful.

deal if you must with solidworks directly.

trust me they wont know a thing about your present use of it

 

there is no evidence here CJCH do nor can do..anything 

only the owner of the software can enforce licensing and they are not even in the UK.

 

 

[cmas]

yea so, in my case they went after my employer. Then stopped going after my employer and started going after me instead as they suspected me.

I did not have the option of not replying as my employer replied and prompted me to reply. 

 

I am not sure what the typical settlement demands are for the software package you being accused of using. 

 

In my case they wanted me to either buy solid works premium with 1 year subscription which is like 11k USD.

Even though I am being accused of using the basic package worth like 4k or 5.8k with subscription taxes etc. 

The other settlement option they offered was for 5k with no software. 

 

You should look up your countries court case filing data base to try and understand how litigious they are. How many case they have filed for similar infringements. The profiles of the accused company's and how those cases ended.  

 

In my case Dassault systems had about 6 similar case filings in the past 3 years for all of the USA. 

 

Based on my estimates it seems they are going after offenders enmasse and that the 6 cases represent a small percentage of total potential infringement cases. As solid works is a wildly popular software used by many. Just about any collage engineering student has a pirated copy of this. 

 

So these were all factors I used in my decision to bounce black ignore. 

 

You are dealing with ANSYS and so it is worth trying to understand thy enemy and try to understand their business model in pursuit of these cases.

 

For example the music industry wasted billions of $ with bit torrent law suits to try and make an example of ppl with the goal of scaring the masses to comply.

 

This was not Dassaults business model. Other then the 6 cases they filed (perhaps to make an example out of ppl) they seem to want to shake ppl down for easy license sales and settlement penalty fees. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cmas]

OO i see Dassault systems as acquired ANSYS.

 

So you are dealing with with same company 

[dx100uk]

it never goes anywhere

 

ACS:Law copyright file sharing claims, Gallant Macmillan - and probably some others along the way... - Internet Piracy Claims and other bounty hunting activities - Consumer Action Group

[suckerpunch]

This is competition company from Dassault ..

 

Additionally when I look into the letter carefully sent i have noticed some things 

 

1. they have CCed people from Ansys

2. CJCH solicitors have signed it as well 

3. They have written which versions used and what timeframes (not very precisely but covered all the years). Even my PC was shut for 2 years in that time frame. 

 

You all had similar types of letter which looks very real ?

 

Thanks 

[cmas]

CJCH is the law firm hired by ANSYS to assist with their extortion racket and they work together in these matters.

 

ANSYS wants to settle for the sale of expensive license to close your case.

 

once they're done with you and you still have not bought a license then then turn it over to the lawyers who try to negotiate settlement like a debt collection circus 

 

[dx100uk]

1 hour ago, ashmess said:

You all had similar types of letter which looks very real ?

 

 

it made to look that way..

ignore them until or unless you ever get a letter of claim from a solicitor 

and pigs don't fly either.

[cmas]

yea they send alot of letters out threatening law suits hoping to get money.

 

They do have the recourse to file a law suit but chances are they wont.

 

For the USA I know of only 6 relevant cases filed. 

 

6 cases is not that many considering that there is likely many thousands of violators.

 

They likely have no intent to actually sue but are merely threating.

 

If the software is 40k tho,  .... its quite a bit more then what i was accused off and it may be worth trying to find out how they deal with those cases

 

Edited November 28, 2020 by cmas