You Got a Trademark Cease and Desist Letter. Here's What to Do.

You opened your email or your mail and found a letter from an attorney. It says your business name, logo, or slogan infringes someone else’s trademark. It demands that you stop using it immediately.

Your first reaction is probably panic. Your second is probably to either ignore it or fire back a response. Both of those are mistakes.

Here is what a trademark cease and desist letter actually is, what it is not, and what you should do in the first 48 hours.

What a Trademark Cease and Desist Letter Is

A cease and desist letter is a formal demand from a trademark owner (or their attorney) asking you to stop using something they claim infringes on their trademark rights. It typically identifies the mark they claim to own, describes how they believe you are infringing it, and sets a deadline for your response or compliance.

It is not a court filing. It is not a lawsuit. It has no legal force on its own. Receiving one does not mean you are being sued.

What it does mean: someone believes they have trademark rights that your business is violating, and they want you to stop. Whether that belief is legally sound is a separate question entirely.

What Not to Do

Do not ignore it.

This is the most common mistake small business owners make. A cease and desist letter will not go away if you do not respond. The sender’s next step is typically to file a federal lawsuit or a complaint with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). Ignoring the letter gives the other side a paper trail showing they put you on notice and you failed to act. That matters in litigation.

Do not respond on your own.

The second most common mistake is writing back without legal counsel. A poorly worded response can concede facts you did not intend to concede, weaken your legal position, or eliminate options you would have had if you had stayed quiet. Even a response that feels polite and reasonable can be used against you.

Do not post about it publicly.

Do not share the letter on social media. Do not tag the sender. Do not call them out to your audience. Public accusations of bad faith before any legal assessment create defamation and unfair competition exposure. They also hand the other side information about your business and your state of mind.

What to Do First: Get a Trademark Attorney to Assess the Claim

Before you do anything else, have a trademark attorney review the letter. This is not a situation where general legal advice applies. You need someone who understands trademark law, USPTO records, and the specific grounds being asserted.

The assessment should answer these questions:

Is the sender’s trademark actually registered? A registered trademark (indicated by the R symbol) gives the owner significantly stronger rights than an unregistered one. Some cease and desist letters assert rights based on common law use rather than federal registration. The scope and enforceability of those rights is much more limited.

Is the claim legally valid? Trademark infringement requires a likelihood of confusion between the two marks in the marketplace. That analysis considers the similarity of the marks, the similarity of the goods or services, the channels of trade, and how sophisticated the buyers are. Many cease and desist letters overstate the strength of the sender’s rights or the similarity of the marks.

What is the sender’s registration covering? A trademark registered in one class of goods does not automatically give the owner rights over every business using a similar name. A clothing company with a registered trademark in apparel does not necessarily have a claim against a bakery using the same name.

What are your own rights? If you have been using your name in commerce for a significant period, you may have established common law trademark rights of your own. If you have a pending USPTO application, that factors into the analysis as well.

Your Options After the Assessment

Once you have a legal assessment, you have several possible paths forward. Which one makes sense depends on the strength of the sender’s claim and your own position.

Comply

If the sender has a valid, registered trademark, a strong likelihood-of-confusion argument, and you have limited investment in the name, rebranding may be the most practical option. This is especially true for newer businesses that have not yet built significant brand equity. Rebranding now costs far less than defending a federal trademark lawsuit.

Negotiate

Many trademark disputes are resolved through a coexistence agreement, a license arrangement, or agreed limitations on how each party uses its mark. If both businesses operate in different geographic areas, different product categories, or different trade channels, an agreement that allows both to continue operating is sometimes possible. This requires a response through counsel and a willingness on both sides to negotiate.

Challenge the Claim

If the sender’s claim is legally weak, overreaching, or based on a mark that should not have been registered in the first place, you may have grounds to contest it. Options include responding through counsel with a substantive legal analysis, filing a cancellation proceeding at the TTAB to challenge the registration itself, or defending against litigation if the sender escalates.

Take No Action for Now

In limited circumstances, particularly where the sender’s mark is weak, their registration is narrow, or the likelihood of confusion is genuinely low, an attorney may advise that no response is warranted at this time. This is not the same as ignoring the letter. It is a strategic decision made with full information.

A Few Things Small Business Owners Get Wrong About Trademark C&D Letters

“I registered my LLC, so I have rights to the name.” LLC registration is a state filing. It establishes your legal business entity. It does not create trademark rights. A state-registered business name has no priority over a federally registered trademark.

“I have the domain and the Instagram handle, so it’s mine.” Domain registrations and social media handles do not create trademark rights. Federal trademark registration is the mechanism that establishes nationwide priority and exclusive rights to a name in commerce.

“The other business is in a different state, so this does not apply to me.” Federal trademark rights apply nationally, not just in the state where the trademark owner operates. If the other party has a valid federal registration, their rights extend to all 50 states.

“The deadline in the letter is a real legal deadline.” The deadline in a cease and desist letter is set by the sender, not by a court. Missing it is not a legal violation. However, ignoring it without a strategy is still inadvisable, because the sender’s next step is typically to escalate.

What Happens If You Do Not Respond

If you receive a cease and desist letter and take no action, the sender can:

File a federal lawsuit for trademark infringement in district court
File a TTAB proceeding to oppose your trademark application (if you have one pending) or to cancel your registration (if you have one)
Seek an injunction requiring you to stop using the mark immediately
Seek damages, including the sender’s lost profits and your profits from the allegedly infringing use
In cases of willful infringement, seek enhanced damages and attorney’s fees

Federal trademark litigation is expensive for both sides. Most disputes are resolved before reaching that stage. But they only resolve if both parties engage.

The Bottom Line

A trademark cease and desist letter is a serious legal communication that deserves a serious response. That response should come from a trademark attorney, not from you directly, and it should be based on an accurate assessment of the other party’s rights and your own.

The instinct to panic, ignore, or react publicly is understandable. None of those responses serve your business. The right move is to get proper legal counsel quickly and respond strategically.

If you received a cease and desist letter about your brand name, logo, or slogan, book a consultation to talk through your options.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For guidance specific to your situation, book a consultation with Antonella Colella, Esq.