Replying: the options and what they cost
There are several ways to reply and they close the dispute differently. Separately, the law gives the recipient a claim of their own if the warning was unjustified or ineffective.
✓ Verified: 11/08/2026
WHAT TO DO
› Details and tips
Reply factually and without emotion: the letter will most likely end up as an exhibit in court. Concessions dropped in passing are read literally there.
The recipients own claim for defence costs is barely known. The law provided it precisely for warnings sent out in bulk without proper checking.
Useful Tools
- Verbraucherzentrale Legal
Consumer protection centres.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What options are there? ▾
Give the undertaking in your own wording, limited to the actual infringement; dispute the claim in full; or comply with it entirely. The law describes the undertaking as a route to settlement and leaves the wording to the parties.
Can I give the undertaking and still not pay? ▾
These are two separate questions. The duty to desist and the money claims rest on different bases, and your answer to each can differ. That is precisely why the law requires the amounts to be itemised separately.
What if the warning was unjustified? ▾
Then the law gives the recipient their own claim for the necessary costs of legal defence. In copyright it falls away if the sender could not have recognised at the time that the warning was unjustified.
Does competition law give the same? ▾
It does — for an unjustified warning, for missing mandatory details, or where costs are claimed despite the exclusion. The claim is capped at the amount of costs the sender is demanding.
How should the reply be sent? ▾
In a way that can be proved. Disputes about whether the reply arrived in time come up regularly, and they are decided on documents rather than recollection.