On a related note: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/01/facebook-suffers...
How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
191–200 of 209 posts
Re: How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
#192Interesting topic and article. I agree with the author, that it's useful to read this information and keep it in the back of your head in case you ever need it, before you actually find yourself in a stressful situation like this. But one thing I don't understand every time there's a C&D story is why leave a paper trail to send the C&D to in the first place if doing something in a gray area? If I was creating some pi…
Just to verify, I just made a Github account using a throwaway email I got by googling "10 minute email". So making a Github account without a paper trail is trivial.
People who get C&Ds must want to be known.
Re: How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
Before we sold our fintech SaaS startup in 2015, we received a C&D from Dealogic and I thought, wow, we've made it into the big leagues! My adrenaline wore off pretty quickly though, because after our attorney sent them a defiant letter warning their London law firm to not mess with a Texas LLC, we never heard from them again. We were flying below the radar, so we just surmised some Dealogic customer had showed a Dea…
Never heard about Dealogic so I just Googled -- the title of the click says: > Dealogic: A trusted partner to top financial firms worldwide Oh well, I probably don't need to dig deeper to know what it does then.
The shortest, and wildly simplified answer based on my few years of using it, is that Dealogic is basically a humungous database of financial information, often unavailable anywhere else. It's also complex as hell and even pricier, and has an interface reminiscing of the best Win 3.11 times. Cool stuff, from industry user perspective.
Re: How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sigh. 5k is three months rent for many people. It's not surprising that we don't see more bootstrapped startups from underprivileged people.
This might depend on where you are. In my area, it's unusual to have to provide a retainer at all unless you're doing something big or the lawyer suspects you might have trouble paying your bill later.
In my personal experience with small firms closed ended matters like wills, contracts, or individual IP filings don't require a retainer.
Open ended matters, like probate, starting an IP portfolio, or response to a C&D trigger a retainer.
Re: How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even acknowledging receipt gives them a lot of power. Remember that they probably have a list of hundreds or thousands of C&D's to send, and if you don't respond they would probably need to file a john doe lawsuit to get your identity from your ISP, and it's unlikely that all that effort is worth it to them.
It would be funny if legal teams at huge companies have OKRs and evaluations. “You hit your target of 250 C&Ds this quarter great work”. Justifying your paycheck is scarier when thinking about the legal dept.
Legal absolutely has OKRs.... usually around management of a hypothetical legal liability and how much they reduced it by when it came to actual payouts or vice versa
Re: How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
And how exactly is a normal person going to evaluate which lawyer is a "good one" and which is not?
If they say ‘it depends’ they are a bad one? Of course, you’d have to not pay them for pointless advice, or it gets expensive very quickly.
Ok, so you get a lawyer, ask their advice, realize it's worthless, and then you... don't pay the lawyer's bill? So now you have 2 legal issues, and no lawyer. Sounds like a worse position than what we started off with.
Re: How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
#197So many comments here about how C&D don't have teeth and suggesting ignoring them. That might generally be the case, but the article here specifically talks about losing your account on the tech company's service as the main thing they are concerned about.
problem solved then.
Re: How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there existing case law around browser extensions that only alter the presentation of a web page on the client machine? You know, things like adblockers or extensions that alter a specific site?
It's called a user agent for a reason: it works on behalf of the user.
I agree. I'm asking if the courts do or do not.
Re: How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
The weird bit is when doing it yourself turns out to be more of a hassle and more expensive than paying someone else to do it. Around 15 years ago I decided to learn how to change my own oil. Even after excluding the fixed costs (I bought little ramp things to drive the front of the car up on while I worked underneath, and a container to drain the old oil into), I was surprised at the per-change costs: the cost of th…
As long as Jiffy Lube doesn’t put the new oil in the radiator. Sometimes you do things yourself because that’s the only person you trust. But oil changes are one of those “do it yourself once so you understand it and then let Walmart do it” kind of things.
I've had shops do all of the following (not at the same time but each has happened before I stopped letting them change my oil):
- fill with the wrong weight oil
- not change the filter
- not tighten the new filter adequately, resulting in leaks
- install a very low quality "no-name" filter
- overfill the oil
- overtighten/strip threads on the drain plug.
- leave tools under the hood.
Re: How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is a bad reason not to consult with a lawyer. Hire a good one who knows the business you are in.
And how exactly is a normal person going to evaluate which lawyer is a "good one" and which is not?
You can do it. The basic problem is that you are hiring somebody to do something you don't know how to do yourself. Here's my approach for lawyers or tax accountants, another gloriously arcane field.
1. Get recommendations from people you trust. Talk to at least three people.
2. Pose your problem and ask them what they recommend doing. Do they listen carefully? Have they dealt with similar problems before? Do they present options in clearly understandable language that allow you to make choices? Do they respond to your questions and concerns?
3. Check their rates and ask for an upfront estimate of the hours to solve your problem. Get the best person you can afford. (Think about how much it's worth to you.)
4. Check references.
5. Switch if things don't work out.
#2 is a big deal. Don't be intimidated. This person is your interpreter of the law. If they can't explain it clearly that's their problem, not yours. Keep looking until you find the right person.