A cease and desist letter is a written demand that asks someone to stop a specific activity, such as reposting your videos, using your photos in their ads or trading on your creator name, by a set date, and says what you will do if they do not. You can write one yourself. It has no special legal force, but it creates a record that you raised the problem and gave the other side a chance to fix it, which courts in England and Wales and Australia's federal courts expect before most claims. It is the wrong first step when a platform report would remove the content faster, and when the person is threatening or harassing you, where platform reports, eSafety and police come first.
This page covers letters about copycats, impersonators, unlicensed use of your content and harassment, plus what to do when a letter arrives for you. Choosing between copyright, trade mark and impersonation reports is covered in trademark vs DMCA takedowns. Unpaid brand fees belong with how influencers get paid for brand deals, and money an agency owes you with recovering unpaid agency fees. It is general information, not legal advice.
What a demand letter can and cannot do
A letter is the informal step before the formal ones. Australia's Attorney-General's Department says on its page for copyright owners that your options include approaching the person infringing directly to seek redress or enforcing your rights in court, that legal advice makes sense if the matter cannot be settled informally, and that the department itself does not enforce copyright or investigate complaints.
Courts expect that step. In England and Wales, the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct says the claimant should usually write with concise details of the claim: the basis for it, a summary of the facts, what they want and, for money, how the amount is worked out. It expects a reply within a reasonable time, which it puts at 14 days in a straightforward case and no more than 3 months in a very complex one, and it warns that knowingly false statements in such a letter can lead to contempt proceedings. Courts can take a failure to follow these steps into account when awarding costs.
Australia's federal courts, which hear copyright cases, have a similar rule. The Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011 requires anyone starting proceedings in the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court (Division 2) to file a genuine steps statement. Its examples of genuine steps include notifying the other person of the issues and offering to discuss them. The statement can instead give reasons why no steps were taken, and the Act names urgency and the safety or security of any person as reasons. That matters for creators: you are not expected to write to someone who is dangerous.
What a letter cannot do is force anything. It does not oblige a platform to remove content, it does not stop an anonymous account, and it does not create rights you do not have. Ideas and, usually, names are not protected by copyright, so a letter about a copied concept or format is a bluff unless a lawyer tells you otherwise.
Send-or-escalate decision table
| Situation | Better first step | Is a letter useful? | Escalate when |
|---|---|---|---|
| An account reposts your videos or photos | A copyright notice to the platform hosting the copies | Only if the uploader is identifiable and the platform route has failed, or you want payment for past use | The same uploader keeps returning, or is selling your content |
| An account poses as you to fans | The platform's impersonation report | Rarely, because impersonators are usually anonymous and a letter can warn them to move | Fans are being asked for money, which is also a scam report and possibly a police matter |
| A business uses your content in its ads without a licence | A letter, because the business is identifiable and the use is commercial | Yes: ask for removal and a licence fee for the use so far | They refuse or ignore you, or the use is big enough to justify a lawyer's letter |
| A rival copies your format, style or branding | Legal advice first, because copyright protects expression, not ideas or style | Only after advice, since an overreaching threat can expose you to a claim | You hold a registered trade mark that covers what they are doing |
| A former collaborator keeps posting shared footage | Read your written agreement, then send a letter based on it | Yes, if the agreement or ownership is clear | The agreement is unclear, missing or about money as well as content |
| Someone harasses, threatens or follows you | Evidence, a platform report, eSafety, and police if you feel unsafe | No: direct contact can raise the risk, and safety is an accepted reason to skip pre-action steps | Straight away if there is any threat to you or the people around you |
For copies and fakes, the report routes are set out in the takedown evidence pack and the Instagram impersonation report guide. If you are not sure you own the material in the first place, start with how to copyright your content.
Letter checklist
- Identify yourself as the owner or the person authorised to act for the owner, using a business name, business email and mailing address instead of your home details.
- Describe your work precisely: its title, where and when you first published it, and how you can show it is yours.
- Describe the problem use precisely: exact URLs, account names, dates and screenshots, kept in your evidence file.
- State the basis in plain words, such as your copyright in the video or a clause in your agreement, without claiming rights you are not sure you hold.
- Say exactly what you want: removal, a stop to future use, an account of profits, a licence fee, or written confirmation.
- Set a reasonable deadline and a date you will follow up. The English practice direction treats 14 days as a reasonable reply time in a straightforward case.
- Say what you will do next if they do not respond, such as reporting to the platform or taking advice on a claim, and only say it if you mean it.
- Offer to talk or to agree a licence. An offer to discuss is the first example of a genuine step in Australia's Civil Dispute Resolution Act.
- Keep the tone factual and leave out insults and guesses about motive, especially if anyone other than the recipient will read the letter.
- Send it to an address you can prove it reached, and save the sent version with your evidence.
- Have a lawyer check the wording before you send anything that threatens court proceedings.
Groundless threats: why the wording matters
An aggressive letter can turn the dispute around. Section 202 of Australia's Copyright Act 1968 lets a person threatened with a copyright infringement action seek a declaration that the threats are unjustifiable, an injunction and damages, unless the person making the threats shows that the conduct really does infringe. The section says merely notifying someone that copyright exists is not a threat, and it protects lawyers acting for a client, but not the client. So “this video is my copyright work and I ask you to remove your copy” is safer than “remove it or I will sue” if you have not checked your position.
The UK equivalent is narrower. The Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Act 2017 deals with patents, trade marks and designs, and copyright is not among its subjects, but trade mark threats about a copied creator name or logo can fall inside it. In the US, the risk sits in the takedown process: section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, chapter 5 makes anyone who knowingly and materially misrepresents that material is infringing liable for the resulting damages, including costs and attorneys' fees.
If you receive a cease and desist letter
First, check that it is real. The Arts Law Centre of Australia warns in its note on copyright phishing scams that criminals send fake infringement notices styled as platform messages and fake letters of demand that push you to click a link, download a file or pay to settle. It advises going to the platform directly instead of using links or contact details in the message, and treating very short deadlines as a pressure tactic. A genuine letter should explain what you are said to have infringed and how. The guide to common scams targeting creators covers fake strike and support notices in more detail.
- Do not ignore a genuine letter, and do not fire back an angry reply. Note the deadline and diarise it.
- Save the post, its analytics and any licence or permission you relied on before you change anything.
- Ask a lawyer whether to take the post down while you get advice; it can limit any ongoing problem, but the decision is part of your response.
- Check whether an exception may apply. Commentary and review uses are covered in the guide to reaction videos and fair use.
- If the letter is about statements you made about a person or business, read online defamation for creators, because a different law and different deadlines apply.
- If you receive notice of a claim at the US Copyright Claims Board, its respondent page says you have sixty days from service to opt out, and that the claimant can still sue you in federal court if you do.
In England and Wales, the practice direction expects your reply to say whether you accept the claim and, if not, why, which facts you dispute and whether you have a counterclaim. A reply drafted with advice is usually shorter and safer than one written in a hurry.
Harassment is different: skip the letter
A letter to someone who is harassing you can give them your details, confirm they have your attention and keep contact going. eSafety's adult cyber abuse guidance instead says to save the evidence before deleting or blocking, report the content to the platform, and contact eSafety if the platform does not act and the abuse is seriously harmful. The same eSafety page says to call Triple Zero (000) if you are in immediate danger and your local police on 131 444 if there are threats to your safety. Lawyers can also help with protection orders. The guides on what to do if a fan threatens you and dealing with a stalker set out those steps.
Finding help: the Law Society of NSW's public services page links to its Find a Lawyer tool and a Pro Bono Scheme, and points people who need legal help to LawAccess NSW. In England and Wales, the Law Society runs a Find a Solicitor directory. Arts Law accepts legal queries from artists who have been accused of infringement and says some may get free or low-cost advice.
Limitations of this guide
This page explains the purpose and contents of demand letters using official court rules, legislation and regulator pages checked on 2 October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice, and it does not give you a template to send. Pre-action rules differ between courts and countries, threats provisions can make a careless letter expensive, and limitation periods keep running while letters go back and forth. Get advice from a lawyer before threatening proceedings, before replying to a letter that asks for money, and whenever the other side has a lawyer. If anyone threatens your safety, contact police first.