Should I send a cease and desist letter or a DMCA takedown notice?

For online copyright infringement, often both. A DMCA takedown notice goes to the platform or hosting provider, which typically removes the material quickly to preserve its own legal protections — no cooperation from the infringer needed. The cease and desist letter goes to the infringer, demands they stop everywhere (including offline), and opens the door to a license or settlement. The takedown is faster; the letter is broader.

Do I need to have registered my copyright or trademark to send a letter?

Generally no — in the US, copyright exists automatically when you create an original work, and trademark rights can arise from actually using a name or logo in commerce. Registration adds significant advantages, particularly if you ever sue, and for copyright it is generally required before filing a US infringement lawsuit. You can send the demand letter either way, but if the matter looks headed to court, talk to a lawyer about registering.

Why would I offer the infringer a license instead of just demanding they stop?

Because sometimes the best outcome is getting paid. Many infringers are businesses that wanted the content and simply never asked; offering a retroactive license converts the violation into revenue and resolves the matter without escalation. It also makes you look reasonable if the dispute continues. Offer it only when you would genuinely accept the arrangement — and put any license that results in writing.

Is this legal advice? When should I hand this to a lawyer?

No — this page is general information, not legal advice, and DulyDrafted is not a law firm. A self-sent letter works well for straightforward cases: your photo on someone's website, your text copied to another blog. Consult an intellectual property lawyer for trademark disputes with a competitor, large-scale or commercial infringement, cases where the other side claims fair use or independent creation, or anything likely to end in litigation — and never state legal conclusions in a letter that you are not certain are correct.

Guide · Updated August 2026

Cease and Desist Letter for Copyright or Trademark Infringement: Free Sample & Guide (2026)

A cease and desist letter for copyright or trademark infringement is a formal demand that someone stop using your content, images, or brand without permission. It identifies the protected work, shows exactly where it is being used, demands that the use stop and copies be removed, and often offers a license as an alternative to legal action.

You built it — the photographs on your site, the articles you wrote, the logo and name your customers recognize — and then you find it on someone else's website, product listing, or social feed. A cease and desist letter is the standard first response: it tells the infringer precisely what belongs to you, where they are using it, and what must happen next. Many infringements end at this stage, because a large share of them are careless rather than calculated, and a documented demand makes continuing expensive-looking.

For content hosted online, you often have a second, faster lever running alongside the letter. The DMCA, the US federal law governing online copyright, lets copyright owners send takedown notices to the platform or hosting provider — and hosts routinely remove infringing material to preserve their own legal protections, without the infringer's cooperation. The letter pressures the person; the takedown removes the content. In many cases you use both, and the letter can note that a takedown notice has been or will be sent.

Skip the template — generate a measured, firm cease and desist letter

Answer a short form about the conduct, your demands, and your deadline — get a professional letter as a typeset PDF. $19, one-time — no account, no subscription.

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Building an infringement demand that holds together

✓Identify the protected work precisely: what it is, when you created or first used it, and your proof of ownership — original files with metadata, publication dates, registration certificates if you have them, or first-use records for a brand name or logo.
✓Document every location of the infringing use: URLs, dated screenshots, product listings, printed materials. The letter should map each use to the specific work of yours it copies.
✓Copyright and trademark are different claims: copyright protects creative works (photos, text, video, code); trademark protects brand identifiers (names, logos, slogans) against uses that confuse customers about the source. Name the right one — or both, where a logo is copied and used as branding.
✓State the demands concretely: stop all use, remove or destroy existing copies (online and printed), and confirm compliance in writing by your deadline. For trademark matters, add that they stop using any confusingly similar name or mark.
✓For online content, a DMCA takedown notice to the host or platform is a parallel route that can remove the material quickly regardless of whether the infringer responds — most major platforms have a standard form for it.
✓Consider offering a license as an off-ramp: if you would accept payment for the use, saying so — "alternatively, contact me within the deadline to discuss a retroactive license" — converts some infringers into paying customers and shows reasonableness if the dispute ever reaches a court.

Free sample letter (copy & paste)

Replace every [bracketed placeholder] with your details and delete anything that doesn't apply.

Sample: photographer demanding a company stop using her photos on its website

[Your Full Name]
[Your Business Name, if applicable]
[Your Street Address]
[City, State ZIP]

[Date]

VIA CERTIFIED MAIL AND EMAIL

[Owner / Manager Name]
[Company Name]
[Company Street Address]
[City, State ZIP]

Subject: Cease and Desist — Unauthorized Use of Copyrighted Photographs

Dear [Recipient's Name],

I am a professional photographer and the owner of the copyright in the photographs described below. I am writing to demand that [company name] immediately stop its unauthorized use of my work.

I created the photograph titled [or described as] [description, e.g., "aerial view of the harbor at dusk"] on [creation date], and first published it on my website at [your URL] on [publication date]. I have discovered that this photograph, along with [number] other images from the same series, appears on your company's website at [infringing URL] and in your social media posts dated [date] and [date] on [platform]. I have never licensed these images to [company name] or authorized their use in any form. Dated screenshots of each use are enclosed.

I therefore demand that, within [number] days of the date of this letter, you: (1) remove all of my photographs from your website, social media accounts, and any other materials, online or printed; (2) permanently delete all copies of the images in your possession; and (3) confirm in writing to my address above that you have done so.

If you wish to continue using the images lawfully, I am open to discussing a retroactive license for the use to date and a license going forward; contact me before the deadline above if so. Otherwise, be advised that I am preparing takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to the platforms and hosting providers concerned, and if the images are not removed by [deadline date], I will consider all remedies available to me for copyright infringement.

This letter is formal notice of my demand and is written without prejudice to any of my rights, all of which are expressly reserved.

Sincerely,

[Your Full Name]
[Business Name, if applicable]