Can you get sued for sending a cease & desist letter?

I bet you didn't know that sending a cease-and-desist letter could get you sued.

I'm your friend Maria, who just happens to be a lawyer for coaches, healers and content creators. Let's get into it.

So you think someone's copying you, and you send them a cease and desist letter. How in the world could you get sued for that?

Scroll down to read more, or watch me explain in this short video.

Declaratory judgment: aka the thing that could get you sued for sending a cease-and-desist letter

Let’s talk about a little something called declaratory judgment.

That sounds really legal easy. Here's what it means.

It means that it's a type of lawsuit where someone can file and ask the judge to declare, that's the declaratory part that they are not infringing.

How does this happen? Well, it can happen in any copyright-related cease-and-desist situation.

That's why it is so important to make sure that you're really clear on what happened here.

If someone has just copied your idea, but not necessarily copied your content — your original work — that's not really copyright infringement. And that is just a perfect recipe for someone to go and file a declaratory judgment action against you. To make matters worse, they can also ask for their attorneys’ fees.

Is it possible to prevent being sued for sending a cease-and-desist letter (aka declaratory judgment)?

The lesson is that if you send a cease-and-desist letter:

Number one, be aware that this can happen.

Number two, be certain that what was copied is something that was actually your copyrighted work, and not just something like an idea or something squishy.

And when in doubt, of course, work with a lawyer. That's what we're here for.

Summary

So we learned about declaratory judgment actions, we learned about what's really copyright protectable and how sending an unnecessary cease-and-desist letter or a cease and desist letter that was based on something that's a little bit squishy, can get you sued. And we learned that you could just get in legal hot water for sending a cease-and-desist letter just willy nilly.

So I hope this helps you think through your copyright, your work and all of those details the next time you're copied.