November17 th marks the 3- year anniversary of the day I found somebody had actually taken my post. For the 17 months leading up to that day, every post and image I ‘d released had actually been replicated on the site of an openly- traded business. And a month after informing the business that I planned to look for payment for copyright infringement, they submitted a claim versus GoPetFriendly.com for declaratory judgement and damages of $5 million.
If this is the very first time you’re finding out about this legal fight, you may wish to read my previous posts:
Dec2016– 228 of My Blog Posts Were Stolen and GoPetFriendly.com is Being Sued
Feb2017– Update on Copyright Infringement Case
June2017– Copyright Infringement Update: I have actually Been Served
Dec2017– Copyright Infringement Case– One Year Later
TheSettlement
Movement on this suit has actually been extremely sluggish. The infringer’s lots of hold-up techniques were, no doubt, suggested to use me down mentally and drain my financial resources. And they were almost effective.
Facing another significant financial investment of funds to get ready for trial, in February we proposed a settlement arrangement. After at first accepting our deal, months of foot- dragging, rejection to sign files, and durations of erratic interaction followed. Eventually, we needed to submit a movement asking the judge to impose the settlement arrangement, which he did on October 16 th.
GoPetFriendly.com got a $30,000 money settlement fromMr Neziol. While this covered just a portion of the legal charges we sustained, checking out that he resigned as president and CEO of the business on October 15 th brought some extra relief.
In addition, GoPetFriendly.com was granted a judgement for $200,000 versus the business, which is now called Rain Forest International,Inc Whether we’ll have the ability to gather on the judgement stays to be seen.
Finally, we’re awaiting the judge to rule on a movement for judgement in default that we have actually submitted versus the 2 other individuals who ran the business throughout the infringement duration. They didn’t react to our counterclaim, and for that reason lost by default. This movement must simply be a rule that will permit us to submit a judgement versus them. According to the law, they are personally accountable for the damages in a copyright infringement case, so ideally we’ll gather another portion of the legal charges we have actually sustained.
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What I have actually Learned
In addition to learning more about copyright law and the legal system, this suit has actually been an individual development experience for me. Rereading the early posts I composed on this topic is hard. I still feel the exemplary indignation that I felt when I discovered somebody had actually taken my work. But this has actually been a brawl. And it has actually taught me some important lessons:
- Even when you are 100% right, getting resolution can take significantly longer than you (or your lawyer) ever thought of.
- While it’s mentally unpleasant to leave, it’s difficult to measure the monetary and spiritual expenses of conflict.
- Carrying unfavorable energy is stressful and impacts everybody around you.
- Stubbornness, bitterness, and smugness are all signs of an over- pumped up ego.
- Attention is a restricted resource, so invest it advancing your enthusiasm.
It may seem like I are sorry for pursing this suit, which’s not the case! First, we won. We have actually developed a precedent in federal court of a blog writer demanding and getting payment for her work. But more significantly, the awareness I have actually needed to deal with made me a much better individual. It may end up that I’ll pay even more for these lessons than I did to go to college, however they deserved finding out.
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ThankYou!
So that’s where we stand today. I can’t inform you just how much I value the assistance– both psychological and monetary– that you have actually offered through this procedure. Your kindness has actually taught me that there’s no embarassment in requesting for assistance. And that the world has lots of fantastic, kind individuals. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
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