Cease and desist
A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the other party continues the alleged unlawful activity. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not discontinue specified conduct, or take certain actions, by deadlines set in the letter, the letter's recipient may be sued.[1][2] The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. A cease and desist letter issued by a government entity, called a cease and desist order, is "a warning of impending judicial enforcement".[3]
Usage for intellectual property
Although cease and desist letters are not exclusively used in the area of
Effects on recipients
Receiving numerous cease and desist letters may be very costly for the recipient. Each claim in the letters must be evaluated, and it should be decided whether to respond to the letters, "whether or not to obtain an attorney's opinion letter, prepare for a lawsuit, and perhaps initiate [in case of letters regarding a potential patent infringement] a search for alternatives and the development of design-around technologies".[2]
Cease and desist letters are sometimes used to
Notable cease and desist letters
2010s
Author Patrick Wensink used Jack Daniel's famous branding without licensing as a cover for his 2012 book Broken Piano for President. Jack Daniel's requested only future printings of the book to have the cover changed and offered compensation.
In 2017, a cease and desist letter sent by
2020s
The
Donald Trump sent a cease and desist letter to CNN asking them to retract a poll that showed him being 14 percentage points behind his opponent Joe Biden during the presidential election,[8] prompting The Atlantic to warn about attacks on the media.[9]
In 2021,
In 2022,
Google issued a letter of cease and desist to the creators of YouTube Vanced, an Android app developed as a third-party modification of YouTube. The app allowed its users to skip advertisements, among other functions. Since March 13, 2022, the app has been discontinued, with all links being removed.[13]
See also
- Abmahnung, the equivalent of a cease and desist letter in German and Austrian law
- Lumen (formerly known as Chilling Effects), a collaborative archive to protect lawful online activity from legal threats such as cease and desist letters
- ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy, a national dispute in the Philippines regarding the ABS-CBN franchise renewal which involved a cease and desist letter
- Clameur de haro
- Demand letter
- Legal threat
- Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act
- Strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP)
References
- ^ Gold, Michael Evan. An Introduction to Labor Law, p. 17 (Cornell University Press, 1998).
- ^ IDEA: The Intellectual Property Law Review. 50 (4): 777–830. Archivedfrom the original on 17 November 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
- ISBN 9780814315132.
- ^ Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 17 (4): 1241–1287. Archivedfrom the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
- ^ Pinsker, Joe (21 September 2017). "Netflix's 'Stranger Things' Cease-and-Desist Letter Wasn't That Cool". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
- ^ "ABS-CBN to go off air in compliance with NTC order". ABS-CBN News. 5 May 2020. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
- ^ "NTC to issue alias shutdown order vs ABS-CBN after getting SolGen advice". ABS-CBN News. 29 June 2020. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- ^ Cummings, William. "Trump campaign sends CNN 'cease and desist' letter, demands it retract poll that found Biden up 14 points". USA Today. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- ^ Solender, Andrew. "Trump Campaign Demands CNN Apologize And Retract Poll Showing Biden Up 14 Points". Forbes. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
- ^ Warren, Tom (24 August 2021). "YouTube is forcing the popular Groovy Discord music bot offline". The Verge. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ tinelund (25 July 2021). "Groovy Bot The Best Music Bot for Discord. Groovy Bot Discord might be among the best bots created in this ten years". Tinelund.dk (in Danish). Archived from the original on 29 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ "Club Penguin Rewritten Shut Down by Disney". 13 April 2022. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
- ^ "YouTube Vanced is shutting down after a legal threat from Google". Business Insider. 12 March 2022. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
External links
- Chillingeffects.org—A joint project between the Electronic Frontier Foundation and several universities to monitor uses and abuses of intellectual property rights on the internet. Contains a database of cease-and-desist letters to which either senders or recipients can contribute.
- Marti, Don (12 April 2002). "Google Begins Making DMCA Takedowns Public". Linux Journal. Retrieved 4 May 2013.