What Is a Cease and Desist Letter, and Does It Actually Stop Counterfeiters?
A cease and desist letter can stop counterfeiters — not because it threatens them but because it changes their cost structure. Here's how it works under the Lanham Act and DMCA.
Short answer: Yes, a C&D often stops counterfeiters — but the mechanism matters. The letter doesn't scare them with litigation. It changes the accounting: continuing to infringe after receiving a C&D converts the act from ignorable nuisance into willful trademark infringement under the federal Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. §1114), opening the door to treble damages and attorney's fees they couldn't have faced before the letter arrived.
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A cease and desist letter is not a threat. It's an accounting change.
A cease and desist letter is a formal written demand — sent by or on behalf of an attorney — telling someone to stop infringing activity immediately. A well-drafted C&D often does stop the behavior, though not in the way most people imagine. It works not by threatening a lawsuit but by turning a costless, deniable act into a documented legal liability the counterfeiter has to consciously choose to continue.
Before it exists, a counterfeiter selling a knockoff of a San Diego apparel brand's jacket at $11.99 faces no real downside. Amazon removes the listing; they relist. The violation is free to commit. The seller can claim, honestly or not, they didn't know.
The moment an attorney puts the claim on paper — citing the federal Lanham Act, naming the trademark, documenting the infringing ASINs — that deniability evaporates. Every subsequent sale is a willful act.
Willfulness matters enormously in trademark law.
What Does a Cease and Desist Letter Actually Say?
A C&D to a counterfeiter does four things: identifies the intellectual property (trademark registration number, trade dress description, or copyright at issue); documents the infringement (specific ASINs, URLs, sale dates); makes explicit demands (stop selling, remove all listings, destroy inventory, provide a sales accounting within 10 to 14 days); and states the legal consequences — not vaguely, but with specific citations to the federal Lanham Act (§1114, §1125(a)), the DMCA (17 U.S.C. §512) if photos are involved, and California's Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §17200 for any California-based conduct.
> Federal law — Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §1117: For willful counterfeiting of a registered trademark, a court may award up to treble the infringer's profits or the brand owner's actual damages, plus attorney's fees. This provision is the financial lever that makes a C&D meaningful. The letter is what establishes willfulness.
Why the Signal Is the Mechanism
Most counterfeiters operate on thin margins and low friction: list, sell, get taken down, relist. The whole model depends on infringement being reversible and consequence-free. Platform takedowns fit that model — Amazon acts, the seller adapts.
A cease and desist letter forces a decision. The counterfeiter reads it and calculates: is this knockoff margin worth a federal lawsuit? For the ones running ten listings across six storefronts, the answer is usually no.
The attorney's name on the letterhead is the mechanism. It signals that a licensed professional found the claim credible enough to put their bar number behind it. The counterfeiter doesn't know whether the sender paid $200 or $1,500 for the letter. They know someone is paying to pursue them. That uncertainty is the point.
What a C&D Cannot Do
A C&D cannot compel compliance. It's not a court order. A reckless counterfeiter can read it, file it, and keep selling — at which point the letter becomes Exhibit A in a federal lawsuit.
C&Ds also don't replace platform takedowns. The takedown removes the listing; the C&D addresses the seller's willingness to relist. For how these tools work together, see Cease and Desist vs. Platform Takedown: The Full Breakdown for Online Sellers.
A C&D works best when your IP is documented. A registered mark gives the strongest footing under §1114; unregistered trade dress is still actionable under §1125(a), and the C&D still converts a deniable act into a documented one either way.
Is a C&D Enough, or Do You Also Need a Platform Takedown?
Both. In order.
File the Brand Registry takedown or DMCA notice first — get the listing down while you're still bleeding sales. Then send the C&D to address the underlying seller. The takedown is tactical (remove this listing now). The C&D is strategic (raise the cost of relisting high enough that the seller chooses not to come back).
For a step-by-step look at the full sequence — from trademark registration through lawsuit — see The Ecommerce Seller's Guide to Stopping Counterfeits in California (2026).
The San Diego designer sent the C&D six weeks after she first filed the Brand Registry complaint. The counterfeiter had relisted twice in the interim. After the C&D arrived, they didn't relist a third time. Maybe the letter made the risk feel real. Maybe they moved on to an easier target.
Either way, the accounting changed. That's what the letter is for.
If an attorney-signed C&D is your next move and you'd rather skip the retainer, Talk to My Lawyer provides California attorney-reviewed cease and desist letters at a flat fee.
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This article covers federal intellectual property law (Lanham Act, DMCA) and California state law (Bus. & Prof. Code §17200). It is general information and is not legal advice. Every situation is different. For advice on your specific dispute, consult a licensed California attorney.