Cease and Desist Letter Templates and Samples

What Is Cease and Desist Letter?

A Cease and Desist Letter is a letter of warning to a person or organization whose actions are perceived as aggressive or offensive. This kind of behavior is considered illegal when it constitutes harassment or infringement of any kind (for example, a copyright infringement). You can protect yourself from unwanted or suspect behavior by demanding to stop the illegal activity ("cease") and not to restart it ("desist") by downloading one of our Сease and Desist Letter templates.

Alternate Names:

• Cease and Desist Demand;
• Offensive Behavior Notice.

In some cases, a letter may not be enough, and if you consider the matters serious enough and have the time and financial resources you may wish to ask the court to issue a Cease and Desist Order. The official order is handed down by the court (or sometimes by a government body) and is called a cease and desist order.

Cease and Desist Letter Types

1. Generic Cease and Desist Letter. This ready-made template can be filled out and signed right away.
2. Response to Cease and Desist Letter. Use this document as a reference when drafting a response to a takedown notice.
3. Cease and Desist Collections Letter. Complete this template if you're a debtor looking to stop the telephone communications with your creditor.
4. Sample Cease and Desist Collections Letter. This is a sample letter for individuals looking to stop incoming calls from a collection agency.

Reasons to Send a Cease and Desist Letter

Offensive activity notices are normally used with the goal to threaten the person to whom they are addressed. They are formulated in a form of a condition or ultimatum, e.g. the letter states that the person suspected of an unwanted behavior will be given a certain amount of time to voluntarily stop their activity or you will take legal action against this person. The letter may be sent in one of the following cases:

• If you wish the debt collectors stopped their aggressive behavior;
• If you suspect a trademark, patent and/or copyright infringement;
• If harassment, stalking, or invasions of privacy took place;
• In case of a property boundary encroachment;
• In case there is a breach of contract;
• If you wish to stop libel (defamation of character) or slander.

What to Include in a Cease and Desist Letter?

There is no rule on how the notice must be formulated. However, it is important to keep the general purpose of the letter in mind: it is a clear demand to stop a certain behavior within a certain timeframe. Naturally, a detailed description of the behavior or action should be given, as well as the names, contact information, the deadline, and the nature of the warning.

Not what you need? Check out these related topics:

• Notification Letter;
• Demand Letter.