If you think that a person or an organisation is violating your business rights with unlawful conduct, you may be able to serve them with a cease a desist letter.
But how does a cease and desist work? Is it legally binding? And do you need to go to court?
In this article, Dispute Resolution Solicitor Anthony Eaton answers all these questions and more…
What is a cease and desist for business?
A cease and desist letter:
- demands that the person or organisation stops their unlawful activity, and
- threatens legal action if they don’t comply.
Most of the time, a cease and desist letter does enough to scare off its recipient. However, if they do continue to act unlawfully you may take legal action seeking for a cease and desist order to be put in place by the court, that can seek:
- Monetary compensation from the person or organisation
- An injunction to be made that prevents the person or organisation from doing the specified act(s)
Why use a cease and desist order?
You would use a cease and desist letter as an early measure to discourage the person or organisation from continuing to violate your rights, without you having to go to court. The letter also serves as a pre-cursor to court proceedings if they are ultimately required.
Whereas you would use a cease and desist order to legally and indefinitely prevent the unlawful activity by way of an injunction from the court.
Most of the time, a cease and desist order is used to stop intellectual property infringement, confidentiality leaks, harassment and breaches of business contracts.
Related: What is Intellectual Property and how do I protect it?
Related: Mitigating and tackling Shareholder Breaches
Can you send a cease and desist letter for defamation?
Defamation is a statement that causes harm to the character of the person or organisation it refers to.
There are two types of defamation, libel and slander. Libel refers to a defamatory statement that is written, whereas slander is a defamatory statement published in spoken or other temporary form.
You can use a cease and desist letter or order to prevent both types of defamation.
There are also some other options available for dealing with defamation, which you can read about in our dedicated article here.
What are the advantages of a cease and desist letter?
Click here to read the full article.