It usually arrives by e-mail, sometimes on letterhead in the regular mail, and it usually says something like: you have materials on your page that belong to our client, please remove them within so many days. Fans who get one tell me their stomach dropped through the floor. That's normal. Here's what I tell them, in order.

1. Stay calm, and read it twice.

A letter isn't a lawsuit. Most of these are fairly standard letters, and the people who send them send a lot of them. Read it slowly and work out exactly what they're asking for. Is it the photos? The sound files? The logo? The whole page? Write it down in a list.

2. Take the items down right away.

Even if you think you're right. Even if every other fan page has the same pictures. Take down what they named, today, and write down the date you did it. You can always talk about putting something back later. It's very hard to talk about anything while it's still up.

3. Answer politely, in writing.

Keep it short. Say what you've removed and when. Say you're a fan and you didn't mean any harm. Don't argue, don't explain fair use to them, and don't tell them it's free publicity. They've heard it.

4. Ask what is allowed.

This is the step most people skip, and it's the one that can save your page. Ask whether you may keep the parts that are yours: your episode guide, your reviews, your essays. Ask whether there's anything the company lets fans use. Sometimes the answer is helpful, and then you know exactly where you stand, in writing.

Here's the kind of reply I help people write. Fill in your own details:

5. Don't post the letter.

I know the temptation. Somebody gets a letter, and within the hour it's on their page in red, with a lot of capital letters and a call to write to the network. Please don't. The letter was written to you, not to the world. A public fight turns a small private problem into a big public one, and the person on the other end is not going to be flexible with somebody who's shouting at them on the Internet. It can also bring other fans' pages to the company's attention, which those fans will not thank you for.

6. Keep copies of everything.

Print the letter, your reply and any answer, and put them in a folder. Note the dates. If anything ever comes of it, the paper trail will matter, and you'll be glad you were polite on every page of it.

7. If your host took the page down

Under the new law (question 12 on the front page), the complaint may have gone to the company that hosts your page instead of to you, and the page may already be gone. Read the host's notice carefully; it should say what the complaint was about. Don't put the same material back up somewhere else, and don't open a new account with the same page. That's how a letter turns into something worse. If you truly believe the complaint was a mistake, that's when you talk to a lawyer about a counter-notice.

8. If you're under eighteen

Show the letter to your parents. Today. You aren't in trouble with them for having a fan page, and they need to know. A parent signing the reply doesn't hurt, either.

When it's time for a lawyer

If the letter asks for money, mentions damages or a lawsuit, comes with papers from a court, or if you've done everything above and they still aren't satisfied, it's time to talk to a lawyer. Many county bar associations run a lawyer referral service that can find you one for a first consultation, often at a reduced fee. Call the bar association in your county and ask.

One last thing. Every fan who has written to me after a letter has worried that they did something terrible. They didn't. They loved a show and wanted to share it, and they copied some things they shouldn't have. Take them down, write back nicely, and go on writing about the show in your own words. That part is yours, and nobody can take it.

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