Careful Construction of Cease-and-Desist Letters: Straddling the Line Between Preserving Your Rights and Inciting Litigation

摘要

Your company has recently discovered that a major competitor is duplicating your copyrighted designs onto various products and offering them for sale online and in retail stores across the nation, and everyone is livid. Immediate redress is needed. Your first reaction may be to call your attorney and request a stern accusatory cease-and-desist letter delineating just how fiercely you plan to protect your rights. Previously, this solution was often a quick and effective step to resolve the issue and avoid litigation. However, now such a letter may actually incite litigation.