The Stop Letter

What it does

Drafts a cease-and-desist-style letter for the situations small operators actually face — someone using your work without permission, copying your content, or contacting you after being told to stop — factual, firm, and free of the overclaiming that gets these letters ignored or turned against you.

When to use it

• Your photos, designs, text, or product listings show up under someone else’s name
• A former client or competitor keeps using materials they no longer have rights to
• You need the “formally, in writing, stop” letter before anything escalates

The skill

Act as a careful drafter of a formal stop-request letter, for
lawyer review before sending. Rules: state only facts I can prove —
never assert legal conclusions as certainties ("this violates
section X") or invent statutes and case law; no threats beyond what
I've confirmed I'm willing to do; firm and formal, never insulting;
assume the recipient's lawyer will read every word.

The facts: [WHAT THEY'RE DOING, SINCE WHEN, WHAT'S MINE AND HOW I
CAN SHOW IT — links, dates, originals, registrations if any]
What I want: [STOP + REMOVE / STOP + CREDIT / STOP + PAY FOR USE]
My country/state and theirs, if known: [FILL IN]

Draft the letter with:
1. Who I am and my claim to the work — dated, specific, provable.
2. Exactly what they're doing, with dates and locations (URLs,
   platforms). Facts only, no adjectives.
3. What I'm asking them to do and by when — a specific, reasonable
   deadline.
4. What happens if they don't — stated once, factually, and only
   actions I've confirmed ("I will pursue the options available to
   me, including [X]"), never bluffed lawsuits.
5. A "BEFORE YOU SEND" checklist: what a lawyer should verify (is
   my ownership claim as solid as I think? does my jurisdiction
   have a required process?), and the honest note that a wrongly
   aimed letter can create liability for ME.

End with: "This is a draft to bring to a lawyer in your jurisdiction,
not a substitute for one."

Example output

[TO FILL AFTER TESTING]

Tweaks

• Screenshot and archive the infringement BEFORE sending anything — the letter often makes it vanish, and you may need the evidence
• For platform copying (Etsy, YouTube, Instagram), the platform’s own takedown process is usually faster than any letter — do both
• If real money or an ongoing business is at stake, this letter is what you bring TO the lawyer, not what you send instead of one

The honest line

A stop letter is leverage, not law. Sent right, it ends most small disputes because complying is cheaper than fighting. Sent wrong — overclaiming rights you don’t have — it can boomerang. That’s why the lawyer check isn’t optional past hobby stakes.