Legal template
Cease and Desist Letter template
A cease and desist letter over a copied logo or brand, setting out the rights relied on, the conduct, a side by side comparison, the demands, a deadline and an undertaking to sign. It suits small businesses protecting their trade mark or copyright.
4 paragraphs, 5 clauses, 1 table, 1 signature block
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What you fill in
- [Date]
- [Recipient company]
- [Recipient address]
- [Recipient name]
- [Trade mark number]
- [Your company]
- [Your name]
- [Your address]
- [Email]
The template, in full
[Date], sent by email and tracked post, [Recipient company], [Recipient address], Attention: [Recipient name], Owner
Cease and desist: your use of our wheat sheaf logo
Dear [Recipient name], since about July 2026 your shop has used a logo that copies ours. This letter sets out the right we rely on, what you are doing, and what we need from you by [Date].
1 The right we rely on. Our wheat sheaf logo was drawn for us in 2019 by an illustrator under a commission that assigned the copyright to the bakery in writing. It is also a registered trade mark, number [Trade mark number], in class 30 for bread, pastry and cakes, registered on [Date]. We have used it on our shopfront, bags, cups and online every day since 2019.
2 The conduct. Your shop, 600 metres from ours, sells bread and pastry under a logo that reproduces the main features of our mark. It appears on your street sign, takeaway cups, paper bags and your social media accounts. The comparison below is what a customer sees.
3 Why it matters. Customers are already confused: on [Date] one emailed to ask when our second shop had opened, and a [Date] review of your shop praises the croissants at the new [Your company]. Using a mark that is substantially identical to a registered mark, for the same goods in the same town, infringes the registration, and copying the drawing infringes our copyright in it.
4 What we ask you to do. By 5 pm on [Date], 14 days from the date of this letter:
5 If you do not. If we do not have the signed undertaking by [Date], we intend to start proceedings for trade mark and copyright infringement, seeking an order that you stop, damages or your profits from the logo, and our costs. We would rather this ended with a new logo for your shop.
Without prejudice note. This open letter may be shown to a court, and is sent without prejudice to all our other rights. If you propose a transition period for your signage, you may mark that proposal without prejudice and we will treat it that way.
The undertaking to return
Please send a letter signed for [Recipient company] in these words: [Recipient company] undertakes to [Your company] that, from the date below, it will not use the wheat sheaf logo or any device substantially identical with or deceptively similar to registered trade mark [Trade mark number], and that it has done each of the things listed in clause 4.
Yours sincerely,