A cease and desist letter in Georgia is a private written demand telling someone to stop conduct that allegedly violates your legal rights — trademark infringement, contract breach, harassment, defamation, and similar claims. The letter itself has no legal force. No judge signs it, and a recipient who tosses it in the trash faces no penalty for that act alone. What the letter does is create a record: proof that the other side was told, in writing, exactly what they were doing wrong and given a chance to stop. If the dispute later reaches a Georgia court, that record shapes everything from injunctions to damages to whether the losing side pays the winner’s attorney’s fees.
Letter vs. Court Order: Know the Difference
People confuse these two constantly, and the gap between them is the entire point. A cease and desist letter is a private communication that any person, business, or attorney can draft and send. It asks. It doesn’t compel.
A cease and desist order is different. Courts issue them, and so do certain Georgia agencies acting under statute — the Attorney General’s office in unfair or deceptive trade practice matters, the Department of Banking and Finance in licensing matters. Those orders carry binding legal force, and violating one triggers enforcement proceedings. This article is about the private letter, which is what most Georgians mean when they use the phrase.
What Belongs in the Letter
Georgia doesn’t prescribe a format. What separates a letter that gets results from one that gets ignored is specificity. “Stop infringing my rights” gives the recipient nothing to act on and gives a court nothing to work with later.
A useful letter identifies the parties and the legal basis for the claim, whether that’s a trademark registration, a contract clause, or another right. It describes the conduct with specific facts — dates, locations, evidence. It cites the law or agreement the conduct violates. In a trademark dispute, that means referencing the registration and explaining how the recipient’s use creates consumer confusion, the core test under the Lanham Act.1Legal Information Institute. Trademark Infringement It states exactly what the sender wants the recipient to do: stop using a mark, take down content, cease contacting a client. It gives a deadline, commonly ten to fourteen days. And it says plainly that the sender will pursue legal remedies if the conduct continues.
Two things happen when the letter is drafted well. The recipient has a real chance to fix the problem without litigation, which Georgia judges appreciate seeing. And if the recipient ignores the letter and keeps going, that conduct becomes evidence of willfulness later — a factor that can significantly increase damages in intellectual property cases.
Received a Cease and Desist Letter? Read This First
Silence is the worst response. It doesn’t make the letter go away, and it hands the sender an argument that you knowingly continued the conduct after being warned.
Start by evaluating whether the claims have merit. Not every cease and desist letter is legitimate. Some overreach, some misstate the law, and some are attempts to bully competitors or critics. Several defenses come up regularly in Georgia:
- Trademark fair use. Using a descriptive term in good faith to describe your own goods or services — not as a trademark — is a valid defense under the Lanham Act, even if someone else has registered that term.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1115 – Registration on Principal Register as Evidence of Exclusive Right to Use
- No likelihood of confusion. The central question in a trademark case is whether consumers are likely to be confused about the source of goods or services. If markets, products, or audiences differ enough, the claim fails no matter how similar the marks look.
- Lack of standing. The sender may not actually own the rights claimed. Trademark registrations lapse, copyrights get transferred, and contracts can limit who is authorized to enforce them.
- Protected speech. If the letter targets an online review, a consumer complaint, or commentary on a matter of public concern, Georgia’s anti-SLAPP statute may apply.
A written response should address the specific claims without admitting liability. Where parts of the complaint are valid, negotiating early is almost always cheaper than litigating. Where the claims are baseless, a firm rebuttal puts the sender on notice and builds a record that can support a bad-faith finding if a lawsuit follows anyway.
Georgia’s Anti-SLAPP Statute
A meaningful share of cease and desist letters target online reviews, social media posts, and other public commentary. Georgia’s anti-SLAPP law gives recipients a way to shut down retaliatory lawsuits early. A defendant can file a motion to strike any claim arising from conduct that could reasonably be construed as exercising the right to petition or free speech on an issue of public interest.3Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-11-11.1 – Exercise of Rights of Freedom of Speech and Right to Petition
Once the motion is filed, the plaintiff must show a probability of prevailing. If they can’t, the court strikes the claim and the defendant recovers attorney’s fees and litigation expenses. The statute cuts the other way too: a court that finds the motion itself was frivolous or filed to cause delay can award fees to the plaintiff.
When the Letter Doesn’t Work: Court Steps In
If the letter doesn’t resolve the dispute, the sender’s next move is filing a civil complaint in a Georgia court. Filing fees vary by court and county, and process server fees plus attorney costs add up quickly in complex intellectual property matters.
Emergency Relief: TROs and Preliminary Injunctions
When ongoing conduct is causing harm that can’t wait for a full trial, Georgia offers two emergency tools.
A temporary restraining order can be granted without notice to the other side, but only in narrow circumstances. The applicant must show through affidavit or verified complaint that immediate and irreparable injury will result before the other side can be heard, and the applicant’s attorney must certify in writing what efforts were made to give notice and why notice should not be required.4Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-11-65 – Injunctions and Restraining Orders A TRO granted without notice lasts no more than 30 days, and the court schedules an interlocutory hearing as soon as possible.
An interlocutory (preliminary) injunction requires notice and a hearing. Georgia law puts this squarely in the judge’s hands, stating that injunctions “shall always rest in the sound discretion of the judge” and “except in clear and urgent cases, should not be resorted to.”5Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-5-8 – Grant of Injunctions Courts weigh likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, the balance of hardship, and the public interest. A judge can require the plaintiff to post a security bond to cover the defendant’s losses if the injunction turns out to have been wrongly granted.
Ignoring a Court Order Is Contempt
Ignoring a letter is one thing. Ignoring a court order is another. Once a Georgia court issues a TRO, a preliminary injunction, or a permanent injunction, the person named must comply. Disobedience is contempt under Georgia law, which reaches “disobedience or resistance by any officer of the courts, party, juror, witness, or other person or persons to any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command of the courts.”6Justia Law. Georgia Code 15-1-4 – Extent of Contempt Power
Georgia superior courts can punish contempt with fines up to $1,000, imprisonment up to 20 days, or both.7Justia Law. Georgia Code 15-6-8 – Jurisdiction and Powers of Superior Courts Repeated violations can lead to a permanent injunction, which becomes part of the public record and can damage a business’s reputation for years.
What the Money Looks Like
Damages depend heavily on what kind of case it is. The rules diverge in ways that matter for both sides.
Trademark
Under the Lanham Act, a trademark plaintiff can recover the defendant’s profits, the plaintiff’s own damages, and the costs of the lawsuit. The court can increase the award to up to three times the actual amount found, based on the circumstances rather than only on willfulness. In counterfeit mark cases, treble damages are mandatory absent extenuating circumstances. Attorney’s fees are available in exceptional cases. Trademark law does not provide statutory damages.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1117 – Recovery for Violation of Rights
Copyright
Copyright owners can elect statutory damages instead of proving actual losses. For each work infringed, the range is $750 to $30,000 as the court considers just. Willful infringement raises the ceiling to $150,000 per work. If the infringer proves they had no reason to know their conduct was infringing, the floor drops to $200.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 504 – Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits That option is what makes copyright claims especially potent in cease and desist disputes — the plaintiff doesn’t have to prove a dollar of actual loss.
Trade Secrets
Georgia’s trade secret statute allows recovery of actual losses plus any unjust enrichment not already counted in the loss calculation. When neither can be proven, the court can award a reasonable royalty for the unauthorized use. Willful and malicious misappropriation opens the door to exemplary damages of up to twice the base award.10Justia Law. Georgia Code 10-1-763 – Recovery of Damages
Attorney’s Fees
Georgia follows the American Rule: each side generally pays its own fees. The exception matters here. Under O.C.G.A. § 13-6-11, a court can award litigation expenses, including attorney’s fees, when the opposing party “acted in bad faith, has been stubbornly litigious, or has caused the plaintiff unnecessary trouble and expense.”11Justia Law. Georgia Code 13-6-11 – Recovery of Expenses of Litigation The plaintiff has to plead the request specifically.
The statute cuts both ways. A defendant who ignores a clear letter and forces the plaintiff into court over obviously wrongful conduct risks being tagged with bad faith. A plaintiff who sends a baseless letter and then files a meritless suit faces the same exposure on a counterclaim. In both directions, the letter itself is Exhibit A. That’s why the drafting matters so much on the front end — and why silence on the receiving end is such a costly reflex.