Demand Letters for Stolen Content, Templates, and Digital Products
You stay up late perfecting a Notion system, a Canva template pack, a legal template, a course workbook, a bundle of digital planners, icons, or presets.
A week later, someone else is selling what is obviously your file. Maybe they changed the colors. Maybe they just scrubbed your name and logo. Sometimes they are undercutting your price with your own work.
That is not “competition.” That is theft.
This article is about what you can do when your content, templates, and digital products are stolen and re-sold, with a focus on demand letters: when to use them, how to write them as a non-lawyer, and how they fit alongside DMCA takedowns and other enforcement options.
No hyperlinks. Just structure, strategy, and concrete language you can adapt.
What “stolen” means legally in the digital-product world
In normal creator language, “they stole my template” can describe anything from close imitation to copy-paste piracy. Law draws some lines.
Most of these cases are about copyright. Copyright protects original works of authorship that have at least some minimal creativity and are fixed in a tangible form. That includes written content, course materials, graphics, layout, and most template designs. It arises automatically when you create the work; you do not need to register first, although registration dramatically improves your remedies later.(U.S. Copyright Office)
If someone buys your digital download and then:
- Uploads the same file (or trivially modified versions) to Etsy, Gumroad, their own shop, or a marketplace;
- Bundles your templates into a big “mega pack” they sell as theirs;
- Shares your paid files inside a membership, course, or client portal;
they are almost always infringing your copyright unless they have a license from you that permits redistribution.
Licensing and contract issues sit underneath that. If you sold the product under “personal use only, no resale” terms and they resell anyway, they are breaching those license terms in addition to infringing copyright. In many jurisdictions, violating license terms can support both breach-of-contract and copyright claims, particularly where the license defines certain conditions as limits on the grant of rights.(fordhamiplj.org)
There are gray zones. Two people can independently design similar calendars, checklists, or resume layouts without copying each other. Using the same stock photos or Canva elements does not automatically make someone a thief. But when your file structure, wording, layout choices, and overall compilation match closely, you are usually looking at copying, not coincidence.
The key point: digital “theft” in this context is not about taking your idea. It is about taking your expression and file and using or reselling it without the rights you granted.
Where your leverage actually comes from
Your ability to write a serious demand letter depends on a few anchors.
First, ownership. You need a good story about how and when you created the work. That might be dated project files, drafts, Git/Notion history, your storefront records, or prior publication on your site.
Second, registration. In the United States, you cannot file a copyright infringement lawsuit for a U.S. work until you have registered it with the Copyright Office (or at least applied and later obtained effective registration).(Cornell Law School) You do not need registration to send a DMCA takedown notice or a demand letter. But timely registration (before infringement or within three months of first publication) is what makes you eligible for statutory damages and attorney’s fees rather than just actual damages.(Copyright Alliance)
Third, platform rules. Marketplaces and hosts survive on safe-harbor protections that shield them from liability for user-uploaded content if they follow the DMCA notice-and-takedown rules. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512, a compliant notice that meets subsection (c)(3) triggers duties for service providers to expeditiously remove or disable access to the material if they want to maintain safe harbor.(Cornell Law School) That gives you leverage through takedowns even before you send a letter to the infringer directly.
Fourth, your own terms. If your shop page or license file clearly states that the product is for personal use only, not for resale, not to be redistributed, and so on, you are in a stronger position. You can point to the exact promises the buyer made when they clicked “buy.”
Fifth, evidence of copying and commercial use. Screenshots of their product pages, copies of their files, timestamps showing your publication came first, and any branding they removed strengthen both your moral and legal narrative.
Put bluntly: the more clearly you can show “this was mine, this is what they agreed to, this is what they did anyway, and this is how they are profiting from it,” the more weight your demand letter carries.
How DMCA takedowns and demand letters fit together
You have two general lanes: platform-focused and infringer-focused.
The platform lane uses DMCA takedown notices. A DMCA notice is a written communication to an online service provider (a host, marketplace, platform, social network, etc.) asking them to remove or disable access to infringing material. A compliant notice must substantially include:
- Your physical or electronic signature.
- Identification of the copyrighted work.
- Identification of the infringing material and its location (for example, specific URLs).
- Your contact information.
- A good-faith statement that the use is not authorized by you, your agent, or the law.
- A statement that the information is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act for the owner.(DMCA Protection & Takedown Services)
A copyright registration is not required before sending a takedown notice.(U.S. Copyright Office) If your notice complies, platforms that want safe harbor will usually remove or disable the listing quickly. That can stop ongoing damage without any direct contact with the seller.
The infringer lane is where demand letters live. Here, you are writing directly to the person or business running off with your work. The goals are different: you may want them to stop, to pay for past use, to sign a settlement, to account for sales, or some combination of those.
In practice, you often combine them. Many creators send a DMCA notice to the platform to get the listing taken down, and at the same time or shortly afterward send a demand letter to the seller asking for a resolution: confirmation they will stop, destruction of copies, and in more serious cases, a negotiated payment.
Think of DMCA as your “off switch” and the demand letter as your “now let’s talk about what you did” document.
Building your file before you send anything
Before you type a single threatening sentence, assemble your record. It will keep your letter calm, confident, and specific.
You want proof of your work. That may include original files with creation dates, prior versions, exports with embedded metadata, platform listings showing when you first offered the product, and any public posts announcing it.
You want proof of their use. Take clear screenshots of their product pages, descriptions, thumbnails, and pricing. If possible, buy one of their copies so you can compare the underlying file. Save order confirmations and downloaded files.
You want a comparison. This can be as simple as a short internal note documenting where structure, text, layout, or other elements match. Side-by-side visuals are particularly persuasive if this ever leaves the demand-letter stage.
You want a trail of harm. Note how long their listing has been live (as best you can tell), approximate sales if the platform shows them, and any obvious overlapping audience with your store. You may never calculate perfect damages, but even rough numbers strengthen your argument that this is not a trivial issue.
You also want your own license and terms. Save the page where you describe permitted uses, your license file inside the download, or your EULA. If you ever changed those terms, note when.
Once this is organized, you will find it much easier to write a short, factual letter that sounds like an adult conversation, not an angry social media post.
When a demand letter makes sense (and when it may not)
Demand letters are not required. They are a tool. They make the most sense in a few recurring scenarios.
One is when the infringer is clearly running a business on top of your work. For example, another shop owner selling your templates or course as their own, a competitor putting your digital products inside their membership or bundle, or someone building a “done-for-you” package around your files.
Another is when you want something beyond takedown. A DMCA notice can remove a listing, but it does not get you backpay, information about past sales, or a written promise they will not pop up again under a new name. A letter lets you ask for those things.
A third is when you want to keep options open for negotiation. Some “thieves” are sloppier than malicious: junior staff who broke rules, new sellers who did not understand license terms, or creators who thought slight edits made something “original.” A clear letter that gives them a path to fix it can turn an adversary into someone who pays a license fee and stops.
On the other hand, a demand letter may not be worth it when the infringer is anonymous, judgment-proof, or obviously located in a jurisdiction where enforcement would be unrealistic, and the money at stake is small. In those cases, your rational play may be to use DMCA takedowns aggressively and reserve formal letters for bigger, more traceable targets.
How to structure a demand letter for stolen content and digital products
You do not need to sound like a lawyer. You do need to sound like someone who knows what they are doing.
A good demand letter in this context usually has six parts.
It identifies who you are and what you own. State your name or business, describe the type of content or product, and mention roughly when you created and first published it.
It explains what they are doing. Identify their shop, product, listing, or site, describe how it copies your work, and mention evidence such as file identity, wording, or layout.
It asserts your rights in plain language. Explain that your work is protected by copyright, that you never gave them a license to reproduce or sell it, and that their actions infringe your rights and violate any license terms that limit use to personal or client projects.
It states what you want. Spell out the actions you expect: removal of listings, cessation of sales, destruction of copies, disclosure of past sales, and payment of an agreed amount or at least an invitation to discuss settlement.
It sets a deadline. Give them a specific date by which to respond or comply.
It explains what you will consider if they do nothing. That may include DMCA notices to platforms, complaints to payment providers, filing with the U.S. Copyright Claims Board for smaller cases, or full litigation where warranted.(ccb.gov)
Here is a template you can adapt.
Template: demand letter for stolen templates, content, and digital products
[Your Name]
[Your Business Name, if any]
[City, Country]
[Email Address]
[Date]
[Recipient Name or “Owner of the shop at [shop name]”]
[Business Name, if known]
[Email Address or Contact Form URL if available]
Subject: Unauthorized Use and Sale of My Digital Product
Hello [Name or “there”],
My name is [Your Name]. I create and sell original [describe: “Notion systems,” “business templates,” “legal forms,” “digital planners,” “course workbooks,” etc.] under the name [Your Brand] through [your main platform, for example “my website,” “Etsy,” “Gumroad,” or similar].
I am writing because I have found that you are offering a product that copies my work without permission.
Specifically, I am the creator of [name of your product], which I first published on or about [date] and have been selling at [brief description of where, for example “my site” or “my Etsy shop”] since that time. The product includes [brief description of key elements: “a forty-page PDF workbook, twelve page layouts, and a bonus resource list”].
On [date you discovered it], I found your listing titled “[their product title]” on [platform or site], located at [non-clickable description of the URL, for example “the product page for [title] in your [platform] shop”]. After reviewing your listing and files, it is clear that your product is substantially the same as mine. The structure, text, page layouts, and other elements match my original work in ways that go well beyond coincidence or the use of common design elements.
I have never given you a license to reproduce, modify, resell, or distribute my product. My product is sold under terms that allow buyers to use it for their own personal or client projects but expressly prohibit reselling, sharing, or repackaging it as their own product. Your listing and sales of this item therefore infringe my copyright and violate my license terms.
I would like to resolve this matter directly and without unnecessary escalation. To do that, I require that you:
Immediately remove and stop selling any listings that use my content, including the
listing identified above and any similar products based on my files.Confirm in writing that you have removed all copies of my product from your storefronts, download systems, and marketing materials, other than copies you are keeping for the purposes of resolving this matter.
Provide, within [ten] days, a summary of the number of sales and total gross revenue you have received from the infringing product(s), so that we can discuss an appropriate payment to resolve past unauthorized use.
If you wish to continue using my work in your business legally, you may propose a retroactive license arrangement that reflects both your past use and any future plans. I am open to discussing that as long as we can agree on terms that are fair and put us on a proper footing going forward.
Please provide a written response by [specific date, for example ten calendar days from the date of this letter] confirming that you have complied with these requests, and outlining any additional information or proposal you would like me to consider.
If I do not hear from you by that date, or if you refuse to address the issue, I will have to consider further steps. These may include sending formal DMCA takedown notices to the platforms where you are selling my work, notifying payment providers of the infringement, and pursuing the legal remedies available to me for copyright infringement and breach of license, including, where appropriate, a claim before the Copyright Claims Board or in court.
I hope that will not be necessary. Please treat this as a serious opportunity to resolve the matter quickly and professionally.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Business Name]
You can soften or harden this language depending on the situation. For example, if you suspect genuine confusion or a junior designer using your work without approval, you might add that you are willing to accept a simple cease-and-desist outcome (take it down and do not do it again) instead of insisting on payment.
Optional: framing a DMCA-style notice inside or alongside your letter
Sometimes you want to fold DMCA language into your communication, especially if you are emailing a platform’s legal contact and copying the seller.
A DMCA notice must include specific statements about your ownership, the infringing material, and your good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized, along with a signature and contact information.(DMCA Protection & Takedown Services)
You can attach a short section like this to your letter when sending it to a host or marketplace’s designated DMCA agent:
“I am the copyright owner of the work titled [work title], which is available at [non-clickable description of your URL or product location]. I have not authorized the use of this work on the page located at [description of infringing URL].
This letter serves as notification that the material on that page infringes my copyright. I have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by me, my agent, or the law. The information in this notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, I state that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Please expeditiously remove or disable access to the infringing material.”
Then sign it physically or electronically and include your name, address, telephone number, and email address.
That way, the same communication tells the seller “stop” and tells the platform “take it down.”
Frequently asked questions about demand letters for stolen digital products
Do I need to register my copyright before sending a demand letter?
No. Copyright arises automatically when you create and fix the work in a tangible medium. You do not need a registration to send demand letters or DMCA notices.(U.S. Copyright Office) You do, however, generally need registration for U.S. works before you can sue for infringement in court, and timely registration is what unlocks statutory damages and attorney’s fees.(Cornell Law School)
What if the infringer is in another country?
Cross-border enforcement is harder, but not pointless. A well-supported letter and DMCA notices can still get their listings taken down from global platforms and payment processors. Many sellers depend on those channels and will settle or stop when they realise you are prepared to act. For purely local sites in distant jurisdictions and small amounts of money, you may realistically decide that extensive enforcement is not worth it and focus on takedowns and prevention instead of chasing damages.
How do I know if they really “copied” or just had a similar idea?
Look at the totality. Everyone can make a monthly planner. Not everyone will independently create the same sequence of pages, the same phrasing of prompts, the same small design flourishes, in the same order. Courts assessing substantial similarity look at the protectable expression, not general ideas or functional elements. If the arrangement, text, and overall compilation match closely, especially where you included non-obvious choices, copying is a reasonable inference. If all you share is a generic grid layout and standard headings, your case is weaker.
What if we both used the same stock elements or Canva assets?
Shared building blocks do not automatically make one side an infringer. If both of you start from the same Canva template or stock photo, you may end up with similar designs through lawful means. However, if their final product is materially identical to yours including your custom text, sequence, and tweaks, that suggests they did not just use the same base, they used your version. Marketplace disputes about Canva-based designs are messy because many sellers misunderstand the license, but copyright still protects your original contributions, not the underlying stock asset everyone can use.(Reddit)
Can I demand a specific dollar amount in my first letter?
You can, but you do not have to. Some creators prefer to ask for information about sales first, then calculate a proposed settlement. Others pick a number based on their pricing, the apparent scale of infringement, and a multiplier to reflect harm, and put that on the table as an opening figure. Keep in mind that if you later end up in a small-claims copyright tribunal or court, any amount you demanded in writing could be scrutinised. Reasonable, explained numbers usually look better than arbitrary, inflated ones.(ccb.gov)
What is the U.S. Copyright Claims Board and how does it fit in?
The Copyright Claims Board (CCB) is a small-claims tribunal for certain copyright disputes with total damages capped at thirty thousand dollars, with lower caps for some statutory damages. It is designed to be more accessible and less expensive than full federal court.(ccb.gov) A demand letter can mention that you are prepared to bring a claim there if the infringer refuses to resolve the matter, which may carry weight with sellers who do not want to deal with a formal proceeding.
Should I always threaten a lawsuit in my letter?
You do not need to threaten anything. It is enough to say that if the issue is not resolved you will consider all legal options available. Reserve explicit lawsuit language for situations where you actually might litigate. Overusing litigation threats, especially for very small disputes, can undermine your credibility.
What if the platform already removed the listing after my DMCA notice?
You can still send a letter if the infringement was serious enough. The takedown stops ongoing sales; the letter addresses past harm and attempts to prevent repeat behavior. Some creators are satisfied once the listing is gone. Others want at least an acknowledgment and a promise not to repost. You can calibrate your response: for a first-time, small seller who seems inexperienced, a short “do not do this again” note may be plenty.
Does sending a demand letter risk them filing a counter-notice and putting the content back up?
Counter-notices are part of the DMCA process, not the demand-letter process. A counter-notice is the infringer telling the platform under penalty of perjury that the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification, and that they believe their use is lawful. If they file one and you do not sue within the statutory time, the platform may restore the content.(Cornell Law School) Your letter does not change that risk, but it may deter counter-notices by making clear that you are serious and have evidence.
What if my own license terms were vague or I never said “no resale”?
Even without clear written license terms, buyers rarely have an implied right to resell your digital products as their own. Copyright law defaults to “all rights reserved” unless you grant permissions. That said, clear terms make your position stronger and reduce room for argument. Whether or not you pursue this particular infringer, tighten your product pages and license files going forward so future demand letters can quote specific clauses rather than general expectations.
Can I mention statutory damages or huge numbers to scare them?
You can mention that copyright law allows for statutory damages in some circumstances, but if you have not registered your work in time, those remedies may not be available to you.(Cornell Law School) Throwing around very high statutory caps without context can look like bluffing. A more grounded approach is to say that if you cannot resolve the matter informally, you will consider registration and formal action, and that courts have authority to award both actual and, in appropriate cases, statutory damages.
What if I used someone else’s template or PLR in my product?
If your product itself incorporates third-party templates, PLR (private label rights) content, or stock that has its own license, your position is more complicated. You should be sure you had the rights you claimed to sell what you are selling. An infringer who copies your final package without permission is still copying expression, but disputes about who owns which layers of rights can muddy the waters. Resolve any doubts on your side before sending aggressive letters.
Is it worth it for a ten-dollar template?
It depends on the scale. If they sold two copies of your ten-dollar template, you might decide the emotional cost of a fight outweighs the money. If they have a “bestseller” tag, hundreds of sales, or multiple products built on your work, the economics change. Also consider deterrence. Sometimes you send a letter not just for this one infringer but to make clear, to yourself and your market, that you will not let people casually build a business on your work without consequence.
How do I avoid being on the wrong side of a demand letter myself?
Be conservative about what you call “original.” Start from scratch more often than you think. When you use stock or template bases, respect their licenses and add enough of your own original expression that you are not just reselling someone else’s work with minor changes. Keep records of your own creation process so, if accused, you can show independent development. And when you genuinely like someone else’s product, consider an affiliate arrangement or purchase of a proper license rather than copying.
Demand letters are not about drama. They are about clarity. In the world of templates and digital products, where copying is as easy as right-click–save, being able to say calmly, in writing, “this is mine, this is what you did, this is how we fix it, and here is what happens if we do not” is part of treating your creative work like a real asset instead of a disposable download.