Cease & Desists
WARNING: Here is how sending a Cease & Desist can actually BACKFIRE
A question I get at least 1x a week: ⠀
“Can we just send them a cease & desist?”⠀
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My answer is always: Not Yet.
You can’t just fire off a cease and desist without speaking to an attorney first.
Because if you do it wrong, you just opened up a can of worms.
• What is a Cease & Desist? A C&D is a demand letter sent to another person/company warning them to stop [insert illegal activity here] or you will sue. (Usually, it is for trademark ™️ or copyright ©️ infringement).
•What a Cease & Desist does: A C&D helps you police & protect your intellectual property. I am all about these…when done RIGHT.
A cease and desist is essentially a legal threat. It is a demand for the other person to STOP doing something illegal.
So the letter is, at its very core, a *legal accusation*. ⠀
So what’s the harm in protecting yourself? Potentially a lot – if done incorrectly. I highly advise you to speak with an attorney BEFORE sending a cease and desist. Why?
The person you send the C&D to has legal rights, too. So the person on the other end of that cease and desist is probably going to take that to an attorney....and the attorney will review the cease and desist for legal accuracy. ⠀
Here’s the scary part: if that other person decides that they want the court to decide if they did something wrong, they can file a DECLARATORY JUDGEMENT with the court in *their* state so that a judge can decide if they did the illegal thing you said they did.
So that cease and desist letter you drafted? Let’s hope that it’s 100% accurate. Because you may be traveling to the other side of the country to defend that declaratory judgment.
Hot Tip: Before you find yourself in this mess, do yourself a huge favor and register your intellectual property for protection.®️
DIY-ers, check out my legal courses for biz owners:
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• The Copyright Toolkit, &
• The Trademark Toolkit
Now available in The Legalmiga Library✨
*Disclaimer* This post is strictly for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice.