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Someone from Europe stole my work.

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taleoftwocities

Junior Member
Hello everyone.
I have question about copyrights.
I live in US and someone from Europe stole my work and is selling it.
What can i do to someone not from my country ??

I hope you can answer me :)

Cheers.
 


quincy

Senior Member
Hello everyone.
I have question about copyrights.
I live in US and someone from Europe stole my work and is selling it.
What can i do to someone not from my country ??

I hope you can answer me :)

Cheers.
If the work is being sold online, you can contact the site that is hosting your material and request that it be withdrawn. That may or may not be successful.

You can also send the person a letter, informing them that they are infringing on your copyrighted work, and you can demand they cease the sale of your work, and you can demand compensation for the work already sold.

If that fails (and there is a good chance that it will), then you can sue the person for copyright infringement in his/her country under his/her country's copyright laws.

Which European country is involved and where is the work being sold?
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
It is Poland. And work is being sold on some forum. I think suing him would be too expensive, am i right ?
It depends on what kind of work it is and its potential revenue stream. An attorney might take it on contingency if that is allowed in Europe if the revenue stream is sufficient.
 

quincy

Senior Member
It is Poland. And work is being sold on some forum. I think suing him would be too expensive, am i right ?
I think you are probably correct that suing the person who is selling your work would be too expensive.

You are not going to find an attorney willing to work on a contingency basis except under extraordinary circumstances which do not appear to be present here. Attorneys who handle international lawsuits are not only familiar with the country's laws but also their codes of civil procedure, which are often vastly different than the laws and rules of procedure in the U.S. Attorneys handling international lawsuits do not come cheap. For many reasons, international lawsuits are prohibitively expensive to pursue for most people.

The copyright laws in Poland are far different than those in the U.S. There are no statutory damages, for one thing. You could potentially be awarded damages of double or triple the amount the infringer would have paid to license your work for use, or, in the case of reproductions and sales of your work, double the probable value of the benefits or profits received by the infringer with the sale of your work. This would probably not cover your costs of filing suit in the court in the area of Poland where the infringer is infringing.

You can, however, demand by way of letter (more effective when sent by an attorney) that the infringer stop the infringement. You can demand to be compensated for the infringer's unlicensed use of your work or the unauthorized reproduction and sale of your work. You can pray that the infringer feels guilty enough to meet your demands.

For a look at Poland's copyright law, you can visit the World Intellectual Property Organization's website (www.wipo.int - if the following link does not work): http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=129377. For information on what a copyright holder can request of his infringer, see Article 79.1.
 

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