Is the way to go to just ignore them - or to make it clear all the below: A) We cannot pay - we don't have enough money. B) We dispute the settlement amount. C) We didn't pirate it <- or would us flat out denying it be potential evidence of lieing in the almost 0 chance that they did take us to court?

We did actually ask them how they got to £8k already - and the basic premise was that we've used their licensed software, and that's the cost of a license - therefore I wouldn't have been able to use the software without paying that much, so they missed out on an £8k sale. Saying that, I do believe the software is cheaper than that though as the product they've quoted us is a 2 year license as far as I'm aware!

Okay great thanks for the info. I've been wondering how I can look at the history of lawsuits for a particular company - but I'm unable to figure out how that works. Is it possible to see a history of CJCH or Solidworks cases? Does anyone know of any that have gone through? I assume in rare cases they may go after the larger cases.

I am from the UK

Would I be liable for legal fees should I get one of those actions through? Or at that point could we just pay the damages at 8k if they send through an official letter? Would there be any negative or bad name on the company?

Hi all, We've gotten through communication from Solidworks/CJCH about usage of their software without a license. Small business, you could say that their claim is valid. They're asking 8k in damages, or 7.5k for a license. We have engaged with the mediator, and run through financing options and discussed paying for a license - as we had no idea these forums existed. We haven't admitted that we've done this at any point. We're relatively unable to afford 7.5k, but they don't seem to care. Do we ignore as everyone else suggests in this forums, even though we've engaged with them up until this point, or is it too late? I've read many many threads - but I've never seen someone categorically say that they've never been followed up since - I've never seen someone come back 2 years later and post "oh yeah in the end it was fine, they didnt follow up". We've spoken to lawyers about this and they've said that they could potentially go through to criminal court if we for example folded the company or tried to sell on our assets. They suggest not ignoring as the damages & legal fees would be significantly higher than 7.5k should they choose to follow through. Help is appreciated.