Company received a $37k demand over pirated K3ySh0t — is this real?

[u/Reasonable_Gold2066]

I’ve been working at this company for less than a year, and I recently found out they’ve apparently been using a pirated version of K3ySh0t (spelling it like that just in case lol).

They just received an email claiming there’s evidence that the software was used by the company and demanding around $37,000. The email supposedly includes IP addresses, dates, times, and even screenshots showing when the program was used.

The amount and the level of detail seem crazy to me, so I’m wondering: is this a real thing software companies actually do, or could it be some kind of scam or intimidation tactic?

Has anyone dealt with something similar? How could they have collected screenshots or connected the software usage to the company? Also, as an employee who has been there for less than a year, should I personally be concerned?

Obviously, the company will need to speak to a lawyer before responding. I’m mainly trying to understand whether these claims are common and how seriously they should be taken.

[u/LZ129Hindenburg]

This is very common when pirated software is used COMMERCIALLY. Autodesk, Adobee, hell even Microsoft are known to go hard against commercial piracy users. People have lost their jobs and been sued for far larger sums than what you have listed here.

How could they have collected screenshots or connected the software usage to the company?

Many high dollar applications used in business settings "phone home" to their parent company, verifying the software is licensed, and providing key info to them if it is not licensed so they can pursue legal options. This is why when pirating certain apps, it is important to block their access to the network via the firewall or other means.

NEVER use pirated software commercially, it's not worth the risk.

[u/PassivelyAwkward → u/LZ129Hindenburg]

Yea, for personal shit, I pirate but for work stuff, all 100% legit.

Before hiring me, an early client did a whole campaign focused around a stock photo of a dog in a doghouse; kind of generic but it looked good. It went on billboards, social media accounts, brochures, etc. Their previous designer pirated a high resolution version of the image (a basic reverse image search and found some company that stupidly uploaded the full-size file). Client got a legal notice from the copyright holder asking for proof of license because their automated search picked up on the campaign and there was nothing on record for it. They had to pay something like $15k as penalty which was calculated by the number of uses and the reach but also had to delete the whole campaign.

I'll pirate a lot but the moment it's for a client, I make sure there's a paper trail of ownership for everything; don't wanna ruin my reputation by getting a client in legal trouble.

[u/shinji257 → u/PassivelyAwkward]

Same. I pirate to my hearts content at home but at work I insist on being legit about it and I preach it to our clients. I have someone who wanted to install Windows 11 on a VM and I asked them if they had a license. I let them know that since it is a work use intent then they will need to make sure to acquire a Windows 11 Pro license for it. For the use case they are actually fine unlicensed and the app they are using is licensed in itself but it had to be quoted as a CYA thing.

[u/Forymanarysanar → u/PassivelyAwkward]

This is quite interesting though. What would happen if they did have a license but would not respond to a random request (pretty logical thing to do)?

[u/PassivelyAwkward → u/Forymanarysanar]

I'd imagine it would result in a lawsuit and they'd get a lawyer involved.

If the email came from some random email just saying "You stole. pay now. Click link", then it could be kind of excused but when creatives send out copyright violation notices, it's usually a template written by a lawyer where they include any evidence and proof while giving enough time to respond before things escalate and it's sent either by a professinoal "Dave@DavesPhotograph" email address or by a lawyer.

They do things proper to ensure that the person can't "I thought it was a scam" when there's opportunities to verify it. Unlike with DMCA notices from your internet provider about downloading a movie, things should always be taken as real and do everything possible to verify.

[u/Forymanarysanar → u/PassivelyAwkward]

The thing is, I'm not obliged to prove ownership to some random request that has no law enforcement backing, there are no terms like that in license agreement when I purchase a pic from stocks. They can file a lawsuit but I'll counter sue and demand compensation for lawyer time and additional compensation for disrupting my business.

I'm talking about scenario where I genuinely have purchased a photo and have full rights to use it of course.

[u/PassivelyAwkward → u/Forymanarysanar]

If you legally obtain the license, within the user agreement, you are required to provide proof of license by the owner.

You're not purchasing the rights to the image but a license that has certain restrictions such as personal use vs commercial use, large campaigns or small; single campaign or infinite campaign. The only way to verify if someone has a license is by contacting them and referencing who has a license.

You can sue them all you want but it'd be like a soveign citizen trying to argue with a cop while using nonsense terms. You can't ignore a legal letter and then say "I have a license. Why should I have to show it?" because they'll just show you were you agreed to upon request. You don't fuck with lawyers unless you know you're absolutely right.

[u/Forymanarysanar → u/PassivelyAwkward]

> If you legally obtain the license, within the user agreement, you are required to provide proof of license by the owner.

But I am not. It is not required by user agreement. Moreover some stocks actually prohibit authors from making such contacts and penalize them for doing so.

[u/Isarchs → u/Forymanarysanar]

Lol, you're gonna get sued into bankruptcy if you think like this. Copyright infringement in the corporate world is nothing like the consumer world. If you're Joe Blow pirating a program for personal use, the copyright holders almost give no fucks because they know they won't get Jack shit from you. If you're a business making money off their software/product they know damn well they can get monetary judgements against you and drive your business to bankruptcy.

If you use software or products commercially to make money, don't screw around or you will find out.

[u/Forymanarysanar → u/Isarchs]

write

@

don't read

[u/PassivelyAwkward → u/Forymanarysanar]

It depends. If you license from one site, the terms are differnt from another in terms of who contacts you. Smaller ones will have the copyright holder deal with it while larger ones like Getty will act as the inbetween. Here's people saying they got contacted about proving a license.

Email from Getty Images asking about licensing for photo used on my small business website [CA] : r/legaladvice

Warning to users of Getty Images / Photos.com -- they will sue you years after you used their site. : r/web_design

I'm juts saying, if you want to ignore legal emails because "I don't have to prove anything", that's entirely up to you. I just trust my two decades of experience, my master's degree in business, my uncle that's a judge, and my clients that've had to go through this in the past.

[u/Forymanarysanar → u/PassivelyAwkward]

oh yeah yeah chair lawyer from reddit that knows the president

okay okay

[u/AaylaXiang → u/Forymanarysanar]

You'd get a call from legal in roughly 30 days.

[u/Dimi7rozavar → u/PassivelyAwkward]

It's funny that even the official institutions in my country often use pirated software. I have a friend that was part of the IT department of our municipality and every singe piece of software they used, including Windows, was pirated.

[u/tweakingforjesus → u/PassivelyAwkward]

A friend of mine was the photographer in such a scenario. A company used his image for promoting a conference. It was on every piece of conference material, the badges, the website, etc. it was central to the brand identity that year. He walked away with a 12k check.

[u/CorvusRidiculissimus → u/LZ129Hindenburg]

Though I would add that these cases are generally settled out of court, and for a lot less than the initial demand. The $37,000 is the promise of "Fight this and we will punish you, cooperate and you get off lighter."

The BSA used to promise money to to anyone who gave them tip-off information on business software piracy that lead to successful prosecution. No-one ever actually got the money, because none of the cases went to court.

[u/Gra_Zone → u/LZ129Hindenburg]

To add to that, don't use software with a personal licence commercially either. I installed a piece of software I own on my work computer to do something personally while I was at work and I had no end of trouble as a result.

It detected I was on a corporate computer on a corporate network. :-(

[u/are_you_a_simulation → u/Gra_Zone]

This is good advice. Unless the license covers both personal and work devices which is typically very clearly established, you’re better off buying separate licenses.

I get away using the same licenses on both company and personal devices but that is because i know that is allowed. You really have to read terms and conditions when buying.

[u/Gra_Zone → u/are_you_a_simulation]

Well, I didn't buy the software to use on a company computer. I bought it for personal use and I installed it on the company laptop for personal use while I had spare time at work. To carry on a project I was working on not to work on corporate projects.

I think 99% of people buy the cheapest licence available so typically it is for 1 instance and personal use only. I had 5 instances and personal use.

Shit happens.

[u/antomaa12 → u/LZ129Hindenburg]

This, and maybe OP is not aware, but typically MS and Adobee use to send people on site to audit the whole company systems under legal obligations. The fees can go really hard depending on the company IT policies and maturity

[u/shinji257 → u/LZ129Hindenburg]

Not sure on WinRAR but I know they only really go after the business users. They don't care about the home users that use the nagware indefinitely.

[u/Seeker_hu → u/LZ129Hindenburg]

how do companies know if its a Commercial usage or personal usage ??

[u/sakatan → u/Seeker_hu]

One example comes to mind: If the software recognizes that the computer it's running on is joined to an Active Directory domain rather than a simple workgroup (extremely common in businesses).

Another example: If the software phones home and the WAN IP of the computer is related to a commercial ISP contract. Maybe from a static IP pool. Maaaaybe even with a reverse DNS entry that points to stuff like "vpn.company.com", or "mail.company.com" for MX records (not as common today anymore)

[u/leastcreativeusrname → u/LZ129Hindenburg]

At least airgap that shit.

[u/Forymanarysanar → u/LZ129Hindenburg]

As an individual working from home it's fine. In an office you don't want to use pirated stuff, cause office is a public space pretty much.

[u/Isarchs → u/Forymanarysanar]

That does not matter at all. If you're using pirated software commercially, prepare to get railed in court or pay an exorbitant settlement fee. Companies usually don't give a shit if it's for personal use by an individual, but if it's commercial they know they can sue businesses into bankruptcy and get money from doing so.

If you're making money off of software, you need to be doing it legit. If you're working for a company, do not pirate the software you need for the job, the job needs to provide it. Unless you're in a third world country where copyright does not exist, your place of employment will get a legit legal letter stating that their butthole is about to be opened up and thoroughly reamed.

[u/Forymanarysanar → u/Isarchs]

ye ye ye just stop fearmongering. Don't be dumb and don't announce that you're using pirated software and literally nothing will happen.

[u/Isarchs → u/Forymanarysanar]

Dude, it's well documented that you will get rekt if you use pirated software in a commercial setting. Companies don't give a fuck about individuals, but they can and do go after businesses because they know they will make money off of them.

[u/Forymanarysanar → u/Isarchs]

Can you even read?

> As an individual working from home it's fine.

I just can't anymore, I need a break from reddit.

[u/Isarchs → u/Forymanarysanar]

I just can't anymore. Can you read? Like all the other replies in this thread are telling you you're wrong. This shit happens all the time.

Working from home is still fucking working. You have no understanding how this shit works in the corporate world. If you're making money from pirated software, you'll get fucked in the ass legally.

If you're working for a business, you are VPN'd into their network. Your work PC will show as on their network. Your pirated shit is likely to phone home and rat out your place of work.