A cease and desist letter (also known as a C & D letter) is a legal letter that instructs a person, group, or organization to discontinue an action or program of actions that have been deemed harmful to another person, group, or organization. To “cease and desist” literally means to “stop.” Generally, a cease and desist letter is issued by a legal authority. In the instance that an individual must send a cease and deist letter, the document is usually worded by a lawyer. In fact, cease and desist letters are frequently sent as per the outcome of a trial. If a judge finds that a certain action or course of actions on the part of one party is unfairly damaging another party, he may issue a cease and desist letter in order to protect the plaintiff against further damages. There are also some government agencies that have the power to issue cease and desist letters.

Cease and desist letters are very often utilized when one party feels that they are being damaged by information that another party is circulating. For example, if an organization began publishing production guides for a patented product without consulting the patent owner, the owner would likely send a cease and desist letter to that organization. The organization publishing this information would be infringing upon the owner’s patent. After all, if the general public knew exactly how to manufacture a patented product, the owner of the patent would stand to experience a financial loss.

This is just one example of the application of a cease and desist letter. A cease and desist letter might also be applied in cases of libel, slander, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and patent infringement as illustrated above. Furthermore, an individual who feels that he is being harassed or bullied in an ongoing basis by a group or another individual may also issue a cease and desist letter, calling for the end of such intimidation. In addition to commanding the end of a certain action or course of actions, a cease and desist letter also typically threatens legal consequences in the event that the recipient does not comply with the letter.

In the event that a cease and desist letter is not acknowledged by the recipient, further legal action will generally follow. In fact, many cease and desist letters detail the specific legal action or actions that will take place in the event that the recipient does not comply with the letter.