A cease and desist order is an order from a court which requires that a person, a company, or an organization stop doing a particular action at once. Courts will send cease and desist orders if there is strong support that the party in question is doing something illegal or unlawful.
The purpose of a cease and desist order is to stop a party from continuing with an improper course of conduct. For example, a court may send a cease and desist order to a construction company that has been discovered to be using environmentally hazardous materials. Another example of when a cease and desist order could be sent is if one company is believed to be using the intellectual property of another. In any case, cease and desist orders serve to notify people that their actions are considered unlawful, and that they need to be stopped.