My name is "Defendant Radzikowski"

edbonny said:

- Re-read the purchase agreement when you bought your PDF. You likely signed away your rights to local laws and agreed to handle disputes in US court or US arbitration. Such provisions are standard with online purchases and they are enforceable.

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Except that in most civilized countries you cannot sign away rights to laws.

Software companies, and others, often want us to think so, but they are in error.
You cannot sell yourself into slavery, for instance. No matter how you formulate the contract.

In Sweden, which is what I'm familiar with (though IANAL), Swedish law allows you to sell software secondhand, no matter what the EULA says - you own the stuff you've bought, and can do as you want with it.

You can sell it, loan it to a friend, whatever. As long as that is the only copy - if the program is installed on your computer, or if you have another copy of it, then it's illegal copying.

So, if the OP had been in Sweden he could have let a friend borrow the pdf - if he did not keep a copy.
Of course, if he could not trust the guy completely not to make a copy, or share it on the interwebs, it's evidently very unwise.
(And I suppose that he'd have to prove in court that somebody else did it and not he, which seems difficult.)

Eldragon said:

Wow. clearly my cynical skewering of the US legal system was taken too seriously. from now on I will stick to lampooning the legal system of dead civilizations.

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A defense lawyer friend of mine, interestingly enough, would agree with a number of your points. And he would use those points to underscore the advice people here have been giving Defendant Radzikowski - filter any and all statements through legal counsel whenever in legal hot water, criminal or civil. The defendant's rights depend on doing so, whether guilty or not.

The international dimension here just adds to the complexity, raising the need even higher.

Piratecat said:

No, he's posting from Warsaw. I'm pretty sure this is legit.

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Even if it is him, do you suppose that there's a high probability that anything said here will be admissible as evidence against him, considering that it would be very difficult to prove that it is, in fact, the accused who wrote the OP?

Not saying he shouldn't shut his trap if he wants to avoid damaging his case, but it's just a thought.

I'm not a lawyer. You're not a lawyer. So just lawyer up already.

Your case, in all likelihood, will not be governed by the same law the would settle local disputes. Your country has treaties and international agreements with regards to these kinds of disputes that probably have supremacy over your country's general rights regarding IP. Even if your domestic laws protect you from prosecution locally you may be prosecuted in abstentia abroad and suffer consequences when traveling outside your own country, purchases products from outside your country, or securing services from outside your country. Never presume immunity from consequences.

So get a lawyer and be quiet until together you've gathered the facts and figured out which laws have precedence governing your case.

Trying to make your case publicly is not in your best interests. Sympathy on the Internet isn't going to determine your innocence or guilt in court. Your exposure on the Internet can however, arm your adversaries in court. It can also make you a more public target, and thus make any judgment against you that much more valuable.

- Marty Lund

Am I allowed to be amused by this? A defendant is so insistent on defending himself that he publicly implicates himself. Even after being told that he's hurting his own case, he's still posting.

Does it violate the forum rules for me to pop some popcorn and watch this thread like a soap opera?

mlund said:

...

Even if your domestic laws protect you from prosecution locally you may be prosecuted in abstentia abroad and suffer consequences when traveling outside your own country

...

Never presume immunity from consequences.

So get a lawyer and be quite until together you've gathered the facts and figured out which laws have precedence governing your case.

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i think thats right.

but sorry, i just think getting sued in a foreign country in abstentia (as long as i don't visit that country and stay lets say in the EU) is just funny.

the phone rings...
"You sir, have been sentenced to 3 years in jail if you ever enter our turf."
"oh my, that really makes me shiver mighty court. want a cake?"

But if there is any way you can solve that matter and prove that you are innocent thats the best way to go (as long as you can afford going to court in another country).

Henrix said:

So, if the OP had been in Sweden he could have let a friend borrow the pdf - if he did not keep a copy.
Of course, if he could not trust the guy completely not to make a copy, or share it on the interwebs, it's evidently very unwise.
(And I suppose that he'd have to prove in court that somebody else did it and not he, which seems difficult.)

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I suspect however (although I've no evidence to back this up, but I believe this is what will likely have happened) that the OP bought one copy of the PDF, and then made a copy of it and shared this with friends, gaming buddies, and club members as they couldn't afford the new books as they are very expensive in Poland (as explained in the initial post).

Each of them I expect made and kept a copy and then passed the original PDF on if it was on a flash drive or CD, but it might also have simply been e-mailed to them all straight away or hosted on a private server for them all to download; this is what we (and WOTC) don't know.

The fact one of them then posted the file on the internet as well is just the icing on the cake in this case and is what made it visible to WOTC - the file was (assuming I'm right) already being pirated by all of these various 'local' users.

As I said in my first post - best advice currently is stop posting and consult a lawyer.

Moniker said:

WotC is out of their mind if they believe that a civil suit in the United States is going to get any traction within Poland.

Just my two cents.

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S'mon said:

With no commercial distribution it doesn't seem like any US judgement would conceivably be enforceable in a Polish court, and I'm sure WoTC have no intention of going to Poland.

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I don't know why people seem to assume that a US judgment would not be enforceable in Poland. Would it be? - I don't know. I'm not a Polish lawyer. But I would NOT be surprised if it is enforceable, and I would NOT be surprised if WotC could use that judgment to make the OP bankrupt, seize his assets, take money directly out of his wages, get an order for the sale of any property that he owns, etc. Can they do any of those things? I don't know. It presumably depends on Polish law, and on US law as well.

The bottom line is that the OP, if he is who he says he is, needs to get legal advice urgently. Advice on the enforceability of US judgments in Poland can only really be had from a Polish lawyer. You may well be able to get some free "pro bono" advice from a Polish lawyer or (if you can't get a lawyer) from a law student. Advice on defending or settling the US action means you will also need a US lawyer - again, think about getting free "pro bono" advice from a US lawyer or (if you can't get a lawyer) from a law student. Advice on the lawfulness of your actions may depend on Polish law or perhaps on US law. Of course WotC may need to serve you with the papers first, but that may only require posting the papers to your home address or may require delivering them via the Polish court system; some jurisdictions may allow orders for substituted service for instance if you are evading service (so service could be effected by advert in a newspaper). In some jurisdictions it may even be possible to serve documents by e-mail!

The above is all speculative and absolutely must not be treated as advice. I am absolutely not in a position to provide advice on this case.

However, I can say this:- GET LEGAL ADVICE ON POLISH AND US LAW. Your legal advisers will be able to tell you whether the best thing for you to do is to fight the case, ignore the case, negotiate and settle the case, consider the options available to you under Polish insolvency law or something else. I absolutely cannot advise you on any of those things.

It is against the law to resell dvds, cds, books, etc.

Tell them you were reselling the PDF.

When the prosecute you for reselling, it will set a presidence whereby all second hand shops and other shops that resell dvds, cds and computer games will be prosecuted causing the complete collapse of capitalism.

Be strong Comrade.

(BTW, Don't take this post seriously, but only because it wont work, not because it isn't plausible.)