In one sentence
The Unterlassungserklärung (cease-and-desist undertaking) enclosed is not a form but the other side’s contractual offer — anyone who signs it unchanged binds themselves permanently, and on pain of a penalty, to a set of facts they have usually not yet examined at all.
The signature weighs more heavily than the Abmahnung
An Abmahnung (a formal warning letter) is initially no more than a demand. The declaration enclosed with it is something else: with your signature an independent cease-and-desist contract comes into being. You are then liable in contract instead of under competition or copyright law — for every future breach, even if the legal position later turns in your favour. Such standard forms also reach further than the breach itself: “core-identical” acts, a waiver of defences, an acknowledgement of fault, a fixed penalty for each individual case. The time pressure is part of the calculation.
Check first: is the Abmahnung in proper form?
§ 13 Abs. 2 UWG prescribes what a competition law Abmahnung has to contain: the name of the party issuing it, its entitlement to the claim, the precise infringement including the factual circumstances, and the calculation of any reimbursement of expenses demanded. If that is missing, it is not in proper form — and § 13 Abs. 5 UWG gives you a claim to compensation for your legal defence.
Two provisions target mass warning letters: § 8c UWG declares abusive assertion inadmissible, and § 13 Abs. 4 UWG excludes reimbursement of expenses altogether — for breaches of information and labelling duties in electronic commerce and for GDPR breaches by smaller undertakings. Anyone demanding legal fees there is asking for money to which they are not entitled.
Three routes and their costs
- Sign unchanged. Ends the dispute immediately, but is the most far-reaching option — you adopt the other side’s scope and level of penalty.
- Sign in modified form. The normal case: give the undertaking, but strike out the acknowledgement of fault, the excessive scope and the fixed level of penalty.
- Do not respond. The most expensive route if the allegation holds — the other side can obtain an interim injunction without a hearing.
Which route holds depends on whether the allegation is correct. That is precisely why a review by a lawyer within the deadline almost always pays for itself — not for the question of whether to sign.
“Hamburger Brauch” instead of a fixed amount
With a modified declaration it is usual not to promise a quantified penalty, but one whose amount is determined in the event of a breach by the creditor at its reasonable discretion and is reviewable by a court — known as the Hamburger Brauch. That takes the explosive force out of the declaration without removing the risk of repetition — and that is what matters.
The statute also imposes caps: § 13a UWG limits the contractual penalty under narrow conditions — only an insignificant impairment, fewer than 100 employees — to 1,000 euros; on a first Abmahnung in the cases covered by § 13 Abs. 4 UWG it falls away entirely as against such undertakings. In copyright law, § 97a Abs. 3 UrhG caps the value in dispute at 1,000 euros where the warning letter is addressed to a private individual who does not use the works commercially.
A persistent misconception is that one is “bound for 30 years”. The correct position is that the contract is open-ended — it does not expire but continues in force, terminable only for good cause, for instance where the legal position later permits the conduct. That is why the scope of the text weighs more heavily than the level of the penalty.
What the platform can do — and what it cannot
You can upload the Abmahnung and the declaration and have them structured: which formal requirements are missing, which clauses go beyond the breach, where an acknowledgement of fault or a fixed level of penalty is hidden, which deadline is running. The central question, whether the allegation is correct, is not something it assesses — and the decision turns on that. Where a deadline is running, it belongs in a lawyer’s hands.
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