IP CEASE & DESIST LETTERS

A competitor is infringing your intellectual property rights and you want them to stop. A letter is sent demanding that they immediately stop the infringing activity and instead they turn around and sue your company in a Declaratory Judgment action. Not only have you just been sued, but to make matters worse, the infringer sued you in their home state – a very geographically inconvenient location for you to have to fight a lawsuit. There are certain techniques to drafting cease and desist letters that can be employed in order to reduce the chances for having to defend a Declaratory Judgment action and considerations that should be taken into account depending on whether the IP involved is in Patent, Trademark, or Copyright, as explained in “The Art of the IP Infringement Demand Letter: Avoiding Anticipatory DJ Actions in Unfavorable Forums,” originally published in the Intellectual Property Strategist, Vol. 16, No. 9, June 2010.