Disney copyright infringement accusation

I received an email from my internet service provider that Disney had notified them that I had illegally downloaded Gnomeo and Juliet. I did not, no one else uses my computer and it is not on a wireless router. I'm very concerned that this might cause me future problems, but I have NO doubt this was not done on my computer. The IP address in the notification from Disney is not mine. Can someone direct me to the best place to post this to see if someone can help me determine if I need to do anything or be concerned? Disney is huge and aggressive and I'm concerned.

Thanks,
Patti

 

I have not followed up with my ISP. I planned to do that today, but when I looked into the information on the ISP website and some information on PCWorld's site, I wanted a little advice even before doing that. All the email asked me to do was remove any unauthorized Disney material, stop doing what they said I was doing and make sure no one does it again. I really thought it was a scam at first, but now I'm a little concerned. Don't know who to ask. Their is nothing Disney on my computer.

Thanks,
Patti

 

Do not respond to the letter and make certain that no one is using your PC for that purpose without your knowledge. If Disney intended to take legal action at this time, there would have been a subpoena issued. DO NOT CONTACT DISNEY. That will give them information linking you to the IP address in question, making it much easier to sue you. Otherwise, they would be forced to legally compel your ISP to turn over that information, which ISPs have been reluctant to do without a fight.

 

I do have the email to ISP from Disney, but had heard that it was a mistake to contact them directly. Thanks Just Playin for reinforcing that information. A part of me wants to just ignore it as I know I didn't do anything, but I've heard that Disney can be aggressive so I was concerned. Just Playin, do you think contacting my ISP would be productive. I checked out their website about this type issue and felt like a phone call would just be a repeat of the information available there. I just don't want anyone to assume by no response from me that I'm taking this lightly.

Patti

 

They don't expect you to respond. Your ISP does not care whether or not you are sharing infringing files but they don't want to get in trouble either. The most they do is cut off repeat offenders and Disney can't afford to sue everyone they believe is infringing. Make sure that no one is using your PC and/or internet connection to infringe. Repeat offenses are not good.

 

Does your ISP use Dynamic IP addresses? The easiest way to check is to ask your ISP providor
Although it would be a long shot I think it could happen that you have been given an IP address that someone had used previously to download that file. (Someone please correct me if I am wrong)

This is a simple explanation of Dynamic IP from WhatIsMyIpAddress.com

Read more @
http://whatismyipaddress.com/dynamic-static

Norton Safe Web report on WhatIsMyIpAddress.com is "Safe"
http://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?url=whatismyipaddress.com

And Wikipedia @
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address#IP_address_assignment

 

Hi

I've received threatening letters from lawyer firms as well about downloading something and they're going to sue, etc. Yes, some people have done this and are truly targeted, BUT it's also something they send to random people as a scare tactic. I learned this after researching it. A lot of people that download illegally don't keep track of everything they download, and a letter like that will (in the lawyer or company the lawyer represents eyes) scare them into reducing or stopping their downloads.

Also, if you do have a dynamic IP address, if that is the only thing they have to threaten you with, it's not enough to make their case in a court, even if it was your computer.

 

Thanks to all who responded to help me understand. I'll try to stop worrying about it. There's a reason my Mama always called me a worry wart!

Thanks again,
Patti