Mag. Balazs Esztegar LL.M.
Attorney-at-law Vienna


Piaristengasse 41/10
1080 Vienna, Austria
Tel. +43 1 997 4102
Fax +43 1 997 4102-99
office@esztegar.at

Online Lecture "Worst Case: Warning Letter"

The "Institut Manfred Hämmerle" (IMH) is known for its high-quality online courses. For the workshop series "Marketing Law", the company invited attorney-at-law Balazs Esztegar to give a one-hour online lecture on the topic of "Warning letters".

Anyone who receives a warning letter is usually anything but pleased. This type of extrajudicial request to take an action or (even more frequently) to refrain from an action already taken is often the starting point for a legal dispute. The "warning letter" is neither mandatory by law nor specifically regulated. In practice, they are regularly letters of demand from lawyers, which are intended to enforce a wide variety of claims before the matter is brought before a court.

The most frequent warning letters are found in competition law and in the area of intellectual property, including above all copyright and trademark law. Often, in addition to a cease-and-desist claim, a financial claim is also made, for example for an appropriate licence fee or a claim for damages.

If you have received a warning letter, you should not take it lightly and lose no time. It is advisable to contact a lawyer quickly to discuss the situation and to work out strategies for defence. Under no circumstances should you take rash actions or make statements to the other side beforehand. This can "backfire" in the later dispute.

In the online lecture, attorney-at-law Balazs Esztegar addressed not only the various claims but also the usual characteristics of a warning letter, explained the costs that can be associated with such a warning letter and finally gave recommendations for the correct handling of warning letters.