Cease & Desist
| Synonyms: | ||
| See also: | DMCA | |
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A cease & desist (or C&D) is a letter demanding that someone stop doing something, or face legal consequences. For fans, this most often means a letter sent by a legal representive of a corporation, demanding that the fan shut down a fan website, remove fanfiction, remove fanvids, remove images, etc., that the corporation believes infringes on its rights.
Since most fans don't have the financial means to risk a court case -- and may well agree that their work was infringing, even if not maliciously meant -- C&Ds are usually obeyed. Fan sites/fanworks come down, either permanently or to be moved quietly to a new location, possibly under a different name.
More recently, U.S. corporations have also begun turning to DMCA notices sent to U.S.-based ISPs and webhosting companies, who are obligated by law to comply and remove or block the "infringing" content without investigating any further -- the default assumption is that any DMCA claim is legitimate. It's then up to the fan to contest the claim (assuming they even find out who submitted it), which again, most fans don't have the resources to do.
Notable C&Ds sent to fans
- In October 2000, Fandom, Inc. sent a C&D to Carol Burrell claiming that her domain, fandom.tv, infringed on their (non-existent) trademark of the term "fandom", and demanding that she transfer the domain to them and never use the word "fandom" in a domain name again. Burrell chose not to comply. (See Fandom, Inc. for details.)
- (does anyone remember details on the FOX shutdowns of XF sites in the late 1990s?)
Resources
There are organizations to help fight inappropriate C&Ds.
- The Organization for Transformative Works, a nonprofit fannish endeavor, has a legal committee that will listen to any fan who's received a C&D or DMCA notice, and will connect them to other organizations that can offer direct help, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation, while not specifically fannish, is dedicated to protecting online civil liberties.
