A cease and desist letter: what to do now

A formal warning letter typically arrives with a short deadline, a demand to sign an undertaking with a contractual penalty, and an invoice for the sender's costs.

The two worst responses

Ignoring it. The next step is an application for an injunction, frequently granted without a hearing in some jurisdictions, with substantially higher costs.

Signing the enclosed undertaking. It is drafted by the other side, usually more broadly than the alleged breach, and it binds you permanently with a penalty for any future breach. A single careless recurrence years later then triggers a payment.

What to do, in order

1. Note the deadline and calculate it precisely.
2. Stop the complained-of advertising immediately while you consider the position. This limits exposure and does not admit anything.
3. Preserve the evidence. Screenshots of what was published, when, and the substantiation you held.
4. Take advice from a specialist. This is a defined area and general advisers frequently mishandle it.
5. Request an extension if needed. Reasonable extensions are frequently granted if requested promptly and politely.
6. Respond in writing before the deadline, whatever the response is.

The options

The modified undertaking is the usual outcome where the claim has merit. It stops the conduct without accepting the sender's broader wording or their cost claim in full.

The costs

The sender typically claims their legal costs. Whether those are payable, and at what level, depends on whether the claim was justified and whether the amount is reasonable.

Costs claims are frequently negotiable and frequently inflated. This is a routine part of the response rather than a fixed sum.

Abusive claims

Some jurisdictions have seen organised claiming, where warnings are issued at volume primarily to generate cost recoveries. Legislation in several countries now restricts this.

Indicators: a claimant with no genuine competitive relationship, a pattern of identical letters, a disproportionate cost claim, and a claim over a technical breach with no market effect.

Where those indicators are present, the position is considerably stronger and specialist advice is essential.

Preventing the next one

After the immediate matter, review the rest of your published material for the same problem. A claimant who succeeds on one point frequently returns for others, and a competitor who has found one breach will look for more.