Thanks DX - Will Do!

ok Thanks chaps. I'll update you once I've spoken to Dassault. Much appreciated!!

Hi DX100UK Thanks for your reply, the only thing I'd say is that I suppose in my case its a little more complex! I don't just want them off my back, I NEED to have a working copy of solidworks to run my business. (I'd expected I'd have to go down the monthly license fee route and this entrepreneurship programme looked brilliant) But either way - I can't just ignore them and hope it goes away - I need to get the software up and running as fast as possible - and I want to do it legitimately which means talking to Dassault one way or another. But it appears these ambulance chasers are going to be ridiculously heavy handed. The version of SW that was on that machine had all the add-ins and additional software bits. It was the full ultimate package (until I deleted it all) and reading through the posts above it looks like they'll try to get me to purchase an identical install which I'm pretty terrified will cost me tens of thousands, will be FAR more than I will ever use and which frankly I can't afford. I was smarting at the prospect of finding 4-5k in installments for my little business. If this is how Solidworks treat new startups I'm pretty disgusted tbh.

Firstly - thank you for the quick response and taking the time to do so. Calmed the nerves slightly... however I've spoken to the reseller again today - had to check if he was still coming for our planned meeting - he wasn't. However he also let slip a few things as I questioned him pretty hard on what this is all about. 1. He said Dassault won't care if I used the software or not - and have stated their attitude can be summarised using the following metaphor (one which Dassault staff use themselves) If someone steals a porsche it doesn't matter if they get 10 feet out of the showroom or drive it 100 miles. its still theft. To my mind this is massively flawed. First of all - I bought a machine upon which solidworks can be run. I didn't purchase solidworks itself. and then deleted said software from the machine. There WAS a very small crossover period where a license was running on the machine however I was under the impression it was Legit. Secondly - if you BUY a Porsche in good faith and it turns out to be stolen - fair enough you can't keep the porsche but the police can't come after you. You'd lose it and potentially have to buy another one. 2. The reseller stated specifically that the solicitors / Dassault will NOT release any information relating to the data they have collected to me unless it goes to court. This seems dodgy as hell to me. 3. The reseller has now said that the correspondence from Dassault I should have received came in the form of an email which (incredibly) was apparently sent on the same day I applied for the entrepreneurship programme. 4. He is apparently passing my details to the person at Dassault in charge of compliance and they are going to get in touch with me today. This morning I have now also received a supposedly "resent" email from CHCJ solicitors very similar to the ones others have received - however notably it doesn't contain any details about the supposed infractions whatsoever!! Please find it copied below: By email only 10/04/2019 Re: SOLIDWORKS® and certain other software licenced by Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation (including the SOLIDWORKS® Simulation line of analysis products, SOLIDWORKS® Composer, and the SOLIDWORKS® line of product data management products in all countries) ("the Software") Dear Sir, We act for Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation of 175 Wyman Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02451 USA ("our client"). Our client is the owner of copyrights in the Software, a copy of which is available for inspection at our client’s offices. The Software is original and the related intellectual property rights vest absolutely with our client. Our client has discovered that your company has been using SOLIDWORKS, without the necessary licenses, that is to say your usage has occurred without the consent of our client or any of its authorised resellers. According to the applicable national legislation, this is an infringement of our client’s copyrights in the Software. As a result of infringement of its copyright, our client is entitled to, inter alia, the following remedies: an inquiry as to damages for infringement of copyright including an inquiry as to additional damages pursuant to s97(2) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 and damages pursuant to the Intellectual Property (Enforcement, etc.) Regulations 2006 and Directive 2004/48/EC or, at our client’s option an account of profits; Publication of any Judgment obtained; and Costs. If you are in any doubt as to your legal rights or if you have any queries or concerns, then we suggest you seek independent legal advice. We look forward to hearing from you before 12/04/2019.

Hi chaps. I know this is a few months on but I’ve supposedly received one of these emails from CHCJ and got a slightly different story. Im a designer who uses CAD (specifically Solidworks) regularly. However up until March this year, this usage was wholly on an employed basis under full license from the companies who employed me within their office premises. I have just set up on my own (as in - less than. 6 weeks ago) and after a bit of searching bought a second hand Solidworks machine I found on Gumtree which was loaded with what the chap assured me was a legit copy of Solidworks 2017 and 2018. (It’s perfectly normal to run these versions concurrently). As well as some ancillary software that runs alongside. I had always intended to get my own Solidworks licence - as I wanted to upgrade to 2019 anyway but obviously I tested the machine for a week or so to make sure it could handle what I needed and whether I needed to upgrade anything - I did, as it happened, and bought a hefty RAM Upgrade. (At this point I should note - just for detail that the machine is actually a high spec Mac Pro running windows on boot camp - I liked this idea as I also make music in my spare time and the opportunity to dual boot into a little studio set up was a big plus.) I then set up my emails etc. (The email is - I fear you’ll see this coming - linked to the business domain I own and have just set up) so it would be used in the office. However I then removed Solidworks and phoned up the local reseller in Cambridge to find out how light my wallet was about to get. - I know from experience you can buy a monthly license package which is slightly less eye watering. Brilliantly - they signed me up to this thing called the Solidworks entrepreneur programme which gives startups like me free Solidworks for the 1st year and a discount thereafter. Which I was accepted for and given a brand new temporary license that I installed on my newly clean system and a meeting set up with the reseller for next week (today) in order for him to visit my office and install a permanent version based on my needs. This is all seemed great until this Thursday I got a call from him saying that he’d been phoned by Solidworks to say that I wasn’t eligible for the programme because there was an ongoing piracy case against my company. I pressed him for more details and he said I should have received correspondence from the solicitor named in this thread in relation to allegations of using pirated software. Which I haven’t. - emails checked and checked again. He promised to phone back on Friday but didn’t. Im now terrified that I’ve used a pirated version of Solidworks on that machine - which will be linked to the domain and email i set up. - which has - like the other chap on this thread “design” in the name. And that I’ve just installed the license they gave me on the machine with the same MAC address and IP. I should mention that IF the versions which were already installed on the machine WERE pirated - then I can see no way of an unwitting user being able to tell. When the loading screen popped up after i clicked on the icon to launch Solidworks it read “verifying licenses” just as it should. I had no reason to think it wasn’t 100% kosher. Sorry for the ramble. Any thoughts? I can’t afford to pay for the whole thing in one hit. And the version on my machine was the top notch affair with about 6 different add-ons. I’ve literally just started my business and I’m terrified. I’ve got my first contract due to begin this week and as it stands I won’t be able to work.