Yeah, the recommendation of many lawyers is not to pay or sign. Rather, you get a lawyer, and sign a "modified" cease-and-desist letter in which you 1) admit to

Yeah, the recommendation of many lawyers is not to pay or sign. Rather, you get a lawyer, and sign a "modified" cease-and-desist letter in which you 1) admit to no guilt and 2) don't agree to pay anything. By law, you have to react to their letter in some way. If you don't pay, there is a 50/50 chance that they'll let it be, or that they'll take it to court. I'm not really sure how your chances are in court. Recently, someone argued that their router had a known vulnerability, and the rights holders couldn't prove that their WiFi was not hacked, and that they downloaded the files themselves, so they were acquitted. (http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Filesharing-Klage-wegen-moeglicher-Luecken-im-Router-abgeschmettert-2335740.html http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Filesharing-Klage-weg...) In my case, there were two factors that made me pay: First, they were in the right. As annoying as it might be, and whatever my positions on "intellectual property" are, it's hard to argue against that. Secondly, the cable connection belonged to a friend, and I didn't want to expose that person to a couple years of legal uncertainty. If a cease-and-desist letter is unjustified, or in a grey area, I would definitely stand up against it, because I believe I'd have a good chance in court.