On July 20, 2011, Steve Baird wrote in this blog, When Silence Is Not Very Golden, “We’re not recommending silence as a strategy for dealing with trademark demand letters”, and he pointed out the probable pitfalls of remaining silent rather than, in Steve’s words, providing, “an intelligent response that details the weaknesses or baseless nature of the trademark infringement claims inserted in the demand letter.”

From a communications perspective, failure to respond is almost always a toxic strategy to either the perpetrator, who should be responding to challenges, or the target, who chooses to suffer in silence as a method of avoiding the inevitable confrontation.

Remember, bullying is assault. Ninety percent of bullying is verbal, or written, but this type of victimization is often more profound and personally devastating than if the victim had been physically beaten.