Embroidery Software Protection Coalition promises to sue innocent grandmothers
So the Embroidery Software Protection Coalition is working to track down people reselling their copyrighted works. Good for them! However, if an embroiderer innocently purchased one of those works, completely ignorant that they were illegal they've promised to sue them. Or you can buy innocence for $300. Essentially they're going to sue grandmothers who only "crime" was trusting the wrong people. These are scum of the lowest order.

While their FAQ page does have a lot of useful and correct information on copyright, there are two FAQs that are completely wrong. First:

The purchase of counterfeit designs and software is a violation of federal laws. Specifically, the U.S. Copyright Act. 17 USC 501

Flat out lie. (Or, if you're feeling generous, their legal advisor is grossly incompetant.) Check out the legal code itself. Not much to see there. Ultimately the crime is making the copy and selling or otherwise distributing it, not purchasing it, especially if you don't realize what you're purchasing was illegally copied. By that reasoning you could buy something from a flea market, only to get sued later because you didn't realize it was stolen property. There is a reason the RIAA only sues people for sharing music, not downloading it.

How about this gem?

What if I am innocent and did not know the designs or software were counterfeit when I purchased the designs?

It is your responsibility to investigate any designs or software that you purchased over the Internet or from online auctions. You must take steps to insure that they are legitimate original embroidery designs or software, not pirated copies.

They're seriusly claiming that whenever you purchase something protected by copyright, be it a movie on DVD, a video game, a book, a newpaper, software, or embroidery designs, the burden is on you to ensure that it's a legal copy. Wrong! The law is not designed to turn consumers into police. It's not even practical. How do check that something you bought online is legit? Look really close at the picture on the web site? I think not. Yeah, if something looks sketchy, you should probably avoid it, but demanding that people turn into police is bogus.

We cannot let these falsehoods stand. Corporations are all too eager to convince the public that copyright is nearly infinitely powerful. As they convince people that copyright is more and more powerful, they convince Congress to pass laws to match that perception. We've lost too many rights in the last 10 years. Copyright was extended to ensure Disney can make more money. You can legally use a short clip of a movie in a review, but you're forbidden from getting technology that will let you pull that clip from a DVD. The next generation TVs will have additional hardware that costs more money, but is designed to make your television harder to use. Now making a bad judgement in who to trust can cost you $300, or you face a powerful corporation suing you for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Complete bullshit. The copyright expansion needs to stop here.