Cease And Desist Letter
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I am an IP lawyer and trust me it's never cut and dried. Look up implied non-exclusive license. I don't know your details (or want to) but you're foolish if you think you know all the answers and can get a good outcome without professional advice. If it's not worth your money to hire a lawyer then it's not worth fighting over. And no one in their right mind is just going to give you a "template" that is worth anything.
+1. Here's a response to a C&D letter that was probably cranked out from a template (feel free to use it as a pattern!), and you can see what a [real] lawyer does to it. http://abovethelaw.com/2013/06/how-to-write-a-great-response-to-a-cease-and-desist-letter/[^]
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I was writing an app for a client. I was NOT a Work For Hire, therefore I own the copyright to the code. See here if you're interested.[^] At any rate, I want to send the client a Cease And Desist letter so that he cannot use any portion of the app. Does anyone have a template letter? 1. Please don't tell me to get a lawyer. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars so a lawyer can fill in the blanks on a template. 2. Please don't start debating the legalities of this. I am the owner, and it's not debatable. I simply want to see if anyone has a template letter. Thanks
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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I was writing an app for a client. I was NOT a Work For Hire, therefore I own the copyright to the code. See here if you're interested.[^] At any rate, I want to send the client a Cease And Desist letter so that he cannot use any portion of the app. Does anyone have a template letter? 1. Please don't tell me to get a lawyer. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars so a lawyer can fill in the blanks on a template. 2. Please don't start debating the legalities of this. I am the owner, and it's not debatable. I simply want to see if anyone has a template letter. Thanks
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
Hello, I usually do not answer questions on forums. I am not a coder just an retired investigator and the frustration I get when people think that the law works in the normal scope of your daily lives. When, in fact the law is in its own world. What you think is not debatable in the laws eye's its debatable. I understand your frustration as "its mine and it all mine". However, the law is all about the shades of grey. A letter stating Cease and Desist is just words if you do not provide any foundation for that issue. There are a couple of questions you need to ask yourself, so you do not have bad days. 1. Who has most to lose? 2. Who has the most to gain? 3. Who can sustain legal conflict? 4. Who is within the law. You made a few comments that in my world I would address if I was interviewing you, if you can answer them honestly then it may help you in your quest. 1. If not work for hire, was work done on a volunteer assignment. 2. Do you work and get paid for your services as a employee or a independent contractor? 3. Did you use or copy code from others sources or app services to combine code for the app? 4. What is your legal basis for claiming rights to your code? 5. Does your coding violate any other patient rights or trademarks? 6. Have you filed any Copyright claims to your code? You get the idea and the reason I am stating this, if they decide in a legal battle you will have a deposition and many more questions will be asked. Like I said I understand your frustration but, you also have to understand that unless your willing to loose allot of hair at night rethink your goal. If, not I would recommend an Attorney to write a letter and here is the reason. They will pass your letter on to there legal department if they have one. They will notice that a novice wrote it without any legal foundation you will be round filed. They also know you have no funds to fight in legal environment and guess what they may file against you. Highly recommend take the few hundred bucks and spend it on a attorney to write the letter, they will include any legal foundation for you. So, good luck and I hope this at least allows some clarity for you to think about.
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I was writing an app for a client. I was NOT a Work For Hire, therefore I own the copyright to the code. See here if you're interested.[^] At any rate, I want to send the client a Cease And Desist letter so that he cannot use any portion of the app. Does anyone have a template letter? 1. Please don't tell me to get a lawyer. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars so a lawyer can fill in the blanks on a template. 2. Please don't start debating the legalities of this. I am the owner, and it's not debatable. I simply want to see if anyone has a template letter. Thanks
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
I agree with those who say you should see a lawyer who specializes in Intellectual Property but they are very expensive. A great source of boilerplate legal documents (and great lawyer jokes) is www.Nolo.com[^] Murray
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Yes, thank you Problem solved.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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I was writing an app for a client. I was NOT a Work For Hire, therefore I own the copyright to the code. See here if you're interested.[^] At any rate, I want to send the client a Cease And Desist letter so that he cannot use any portion of the app. Does anyone have a template letter? 1. Please don't tell me to get a lawyer. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars so a lawyer can fill in the blanks on a template. 2. Please don't start debating the legalities of this. I am the owner, and it's not debatable. I simply want to see if anyone has a template letter. Thanks
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
My attorney would like the name and address of your client :laugh:
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Richard MacCutchan wrote:
1. Get a lawyer; the law is different in different countries, and probably even in some states.
United States copy right law is the same in every state.
Richard MacCutchan wrote:
2. It probably is debatable, because we have no idea what your contract with the customer actually specified.
I've been down this road a couple of times before. I own the code. When you're an independent contractor hired to write code, unless you specify otherwise, YOU own the copyright to the source until you release it to the client. Thanks for following directions :):):)
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
Kevin Marois wrote:
United States copy right law is the same in every state.
However your right to sue based on that copyright is dependent on whether you have registered the copyright - and that costs money. http://www.whitecase.com/files/Publication/0c3e727d-4944-4529-80d9-81b79d3a7bff/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/8dff9d5a-d6ff-4039-bdf5-83bf7e7e25cb/Legal-Requirements-for-Bringing-Copyright-Infringement-Lawsuit.pdf[^]
Kevin Marois wrote:
I own the code. When you're an independent contractor hired to write code, unless you specify otherwise, YOU own the copyright to the source until you release it to the client.
Keeping in mind that you only own what your wrote. If someone else worked on it or some piece related to that then they own that part.
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+1. Here's a response to a C&D letter that was probably cranked out from a template (feel free to use it as a pattern!), and you can see what a [real] lawyer does to it. http://abovethelaw.com/2013/06/how-to-write-a-great-response-to-a-cease-and-desist-letter/[^]
Love it! Always wanted to send a response like that to a stupid demand letter. Usually I file them in the garbage can.
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I was writing an app for a client. I was NOT a Work For Hire, therefore I own the copyright to the code. See here if you're interested.[^] At any rate, I want to send the client a Cease And Desist letter so that he cannot use any portion of the app. Does anyone have a template letter? 1. Please don't tell me to get a lawyer. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars so a lawyer can fill in the blanks on a template. 2. Please don't start debating the legalities of this. I am the owner, and it's not debatable. I simply want to see if anyone has a template letter. Thanks
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
Don't be obnoxious. Send them a registered letter reminding them of their legal obligations and your legal rights (assuming you have any). Maybe they are not even using your software. If they are, or continue to do so after you have informed them, then you can get in their face. And unsupported software typically has a very short life.
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I was writing an app for a client. I was NOT a Work For Hire, therefore I own the copyright to the code. See here if you're interested.[^] At any rate, I want to send the client a Cease And Desist letter so that he cannot use any portion of the app. Does anyone have a template letter? 1. Please don't tell me to get a lawyer. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars so a lawyer can fill in the blanks on a template. 2. Please don't start debating the legalities of this. I am the owner, and it's not debatable. I simply want to see if anyone has a template letter. Thanks
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
A person who acts as his own attorney has a fool for a client. That you are so convinced that this issue is not debatable illustrates that point exactly. EVERYTHING in law is debatable. That is the very premise behind modern law. A lesson you will soon be learning, methinks....