Cease and Desist - Cease-and-desist Letters

Cease-and-desist Letters

A cease-and-desist letter is a letter demanding that the recipient refrain from a certain behavior or face legal action. Some types of behaviors that may prompt such letters include:

• Harassment by telephone by a collection agency or junk debt buyers
• Stalking or other forms of harassment
• Property, neighborhood, and boundary disputes
• Patent infringement, copyright infringement or trademark infringement
• Libel or slander
• Terms of service violation

In the case of stalking and harassment, the letter usually demands that the recipient cease the threatening behavior or face criminal charges.

In the case of property and boundary disputes, the letter demands that the recipient cease activity that negatively impacts their neighbors. Some examples include holding loud parties late at night, leaving a dog outside to bark all day, cutting down trees that stand on public or jointly owned land, or building a fence that infringes on someone else's property.

In the case of copyright or trademark infringement, libel, and slander, the letter typically threatens a civil lawsuit if the recipient continues the undesired activity. It is similar in form, although not in function, to a demand letter, which alerts the recipient to a pending claim for money damages, usually as a result of a tort or a breach of contract.

In the US, a recipient of a cease-and-desist letter who is placed in a "reasonable apprehension" of litigation may respond through a request for declaratory judgment proceeding in his own jurisdiction.