Unfair competition can quickly erode a market position—through misleading advertising, unlawful price information, aggressive marketing tactics, product imitation, or competitor actions such as warning letters (Abmahnungen). German unfair competition law (UWG) and related EU consumer-information rules provide powerful tools to stop unlawful practices swiftly and reduce compliance risk before campaigns go live.
We advise international and German businesses both offensively (enforcement against competitors) and defensively (response to Abmahnungen and injunction applications). Our focus is practical: protecting sales channels, marketing freedom, reputation and operational continuity.
Fast
Enforcement
Platform
Disputes
Defence &
Risk Prevention
Compliance & Advertising Review
Enforcement: Stop Unfair Practices Fast
Unfair competition law is primarily an enforcement discipline. We advise international and German businesses in unfair competition matters with a structured, enforcement-ready approach—from preventive compliance reviews to immediate injunction proceedings and long-term enforcement. The decisive factor is usually speed: early evidence, clean legal framing and procedurally correct escalation.
Our scope of services:
- Drafting and sending cease-and-desist letters (Abmahnung) to stop unfair practices quickly
- Strategic design of demands (cease-and-desist, disclosure, corrective measures, removal of content)
- Representation in injunction proceedings and interim measures
- Enforcement of injunctions (including breach analysis and documentation)
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Cease-and-desist letters (Abmahnung) and out-of-court enforcement
A cease-and-desist letter (Abmahnung) is a formal out-of-court demand to stop an unlawful commercial practice, typically combined with a request for a penalty-backed undertaking and reimbursement of costs. Our additional scope of services:
- Evidence-focused documentation (screenshots, time stamps, product captures, platform logs)
- Settlement structuring: undertakings, contractual penalties, delimitation commitments, compliance add-ons
- Cross-border communication for international clients
Interim relief and injunction proceedings (einstweilige Verfügung)
An interim injunction is a fast-track court procedure to stop an unlawful practice quickly where urgency is required; in competition disputes, timing and evidence are often decisive.
Our additional scope of services:
- Rapid risk assessment (urgency window, forum strategy, evidence threshold)
- Drafting injunction applications and supporting affidavits / declarations
- Enforcement follow-up: service, compliance monitoring, escalation for breaches
Enforcement of injunctions and contractual penalties
Securing an order is only half the work. Real protection requires consistent enforcement.
Our additional scope of services:
- Enforcement of contractual penalties under cease-and-desist undertakings
- Strategy for repeat infringements and “copycat” patterns
- Coordination with technical providers (platforms, hosts, registrars) where necessary
Relevant experience (examples):
- Enforcement against operators of fake online shops imitating clients’ web stores, including shutdown of fraudulent domains
- Action against competitors using deceptive marketing and comparative advertising in consumer markets
- MDR-adjacent enforcement against unlawful packaging and labeling practices in competitive settings (medical devices)
Defence: Abmahnung Response and Risk Prevention
Many competition disputes start with a warning letter—sometimes justified, sometimes abusive. A wrong first step (or a rushed undertaking) can lock the business into long-term restrictions and high penalty exposure.
Our scope of services
- Defence in threatened or pending injunction proceedings
- Rapid assessment of Abmahnungen (validity, standing, scope, evidence)
- Drafting responses and negotiating adjustments to penalty clauses and scope
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Defence against cease-and-desist letters and abusive enforcement
Defence in unfair competition law focuses on assessing whether the alleged violation is legally substantiated and commercially relevant—and on avoiding unnecessary undertakings, costs, and operational restrictions.
Our additional scope of services:
- Minimising cost exposure and reputational risks
- Strategy against abusive or tactical warnings (including competitor standing issues)
Relevant experience (examples):
- Defence of start-ups against asserted unfair competition and ancillary IP allegations
- Advising and representing a real estate brokerage company in defending against an abusive warning and an injunction application
- Defence of an Estonian honey producer against claims by the Wettbewerbszentrale regarding alleged unlawful use of a quality seal
Platform Disputes
Product imitation and online clone activity combine competition law, brand strategy and evidence work. These matters require a practical approach that works across websites, marketplaces and supply chains.
Our scope of services
- Evidence preservation and test purchases
- Assistance in takedown disputes with platforms (Amazon, eBay, etc.)
- Support in disputes with competitors on marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, etc.)
- Coordinating legal arguments with trademark/design strategies
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Marketplace disputes and platform enforcement (Amazon, eBay, social platforms)
Online channels accelerate infringement and increase the need for fast reaction. Unfair competition disputes are rarely academic. They involve operational urgency, sales channels and brand trust. We therefore work with early evidence capture and litigation-proof documentation, clear procedural sequencing (settlement leverage vs. immediate court relief), and commercially realistic outcomes (delimitation, coexistence, targeted restrictions).
Our additional scope of services:
- Action against deceptive listings, fake seller identities, copycat stores and unfair reviews
- Platform-facing takedown strategy where legally and procedurally viable
- Escalation plan: cease-and-desist → injunction → enforcement for repeat conduct
Relevant experience (examples):
- Successful shutdowns of fake online shops imitating clients’ web stores
- Representation of consumer product companies against competitors for deceptive marketing online
- Legal actions against hostproviders and registraries
Action against imitation of products, websites, packaging and trade dress
Unfair competition law can prohibit avoidable imitation and misleading market conduct where competitors exploit another business’s product presentation, packaging or market reputation.
Our additional scope of services:
- Product documentation and traceability mapping
- Action against lookalikes: packaging, product presentation, UI/UX, web layout, listings
- Assessment of protectable competitive individuality and imitation risk
Compliance and Advertising Review
Prevention is often the most cost-effective form of enforcement. A legally compliant campaign protects your marketing budget, avoids forced takedowns, and reduces exposure to Abmahnungen—particularly in regulated markets and in areas such as price presentation and mandatory consumer information. In practice, this means building claims and disclosures in a way that remains defensible if a competitor, association, or marketplace compliance team challenges the campaign.
Under unfair competition law, advertising becomes unlawful where it is misleading, aggressive, unsubstantiated, or unfairly exploits a competitor’s market position or reputation. Comparative advertising can be a legitimate tool, but only within strict boundaries—especially regarding objectivity, verifiability, and how the comparison is presented.
For that reason, we advise clients not only on what is “allowed in theory”, but on what is robust in the real world of Abmahnungen, injunction risk, and platform enforcement.
Our scope of services:
- Advice on comparative advertising (permissible comparisons, substantiation, presentation)
- Advice on influencer-style advertising (endorsement formats, transparency and claim responsibility)
- Guidance on aggressive sales tactics and claims management (e.g., urgency/scarcity claims, “best” claims, rankings, superlatives)
- Risk review of “quality seals”, awards, rankings, and endorsement-style statements
- Consumer information compliance
- Ongoing monitoring-driven enforcement strategy in high-competition sectors
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Legal review of marketing materials and consumer information compliance
To translate the above into operational practice, we review campaigns and assets in the form in which consumers actually see them—websites, ads, product pages, and marketplace listings—and we assess not only the wording, but also the layout and context that can drive legal risk.
Our scope of services:
- Compliance review of websites, ads, product pages and price presentation
- Review of consumer-information requirements and claim substantiation
- Pre-launch risk assessment for campaigns and product rollouts
- Practical “fix lists” and legally robust wording alternatives
Relevant experience (examples):
- Representation of an international cosmetics trading company in proceedings concerning unlawful price presentation and consumer information requirements
- MDR-related competitive enforcement involving labeling and packaging practices
- Advising consumer product companies on claim and compliance exposure