Received a
warning letter from Fechner Legal?
We protect your rights!

Fechner Legal is a law firm based in Berlin. The law firm is headed by lawyer Robert Fechner. In cooperation with the photo rights watchdog PhotoClaim, lawyer Robert Fechner issues cautionary warnings for various photographers whose photographs are cited without a license and without attribution.

If you have received a warning letter from Fechner Legal, you should first of all keep calm. Read the warning letter carefully and seek legal advice to check the allegations in the warning letter and advise you on how to proceed. Take every warning letter seriously and respond within the deadline set in order to avoid further legal consequences and problems. Therefore, contact your lawyer here too to ensure that you take all the necessary steps in good time.

Don't simply dismiss the warning as spam, but respond! Robert Fechner sets a short deadline of around one week in which the warned party should submit a cease-and-desist declaration and pay the requested amounts. If you do not respond to this, you risk being taken to court by Robert Fechner.

First of all, we offer you the option of a free initial consultation. Benefit from our experience from more than 10,000 copyright warnings. We know the tricks and, above all, the interests of the warning letters and know how to minimize the damage.

In addition to the claim for injunctive relief, Robert Fechner is asserting a claim for damages, which is intended to compensate for the damage caused by the use of the photograph.

The letter also claims the attorney's fees incurred by the rights holders as a result of commissioning Robert Fechner. We are aware of amounts in dispute of EUR 6,000.00 of up to EUR 42,000.00 in the warnings we have received from Robert Fechner.

Finally, Robert Fechner claims so-called documentation costs in the warning letters. According to him, documentation costs are costs incurred by the rights holders in creating documentation of the infringement that can be used in court. In the warnings we received, the documentation costs regularly amounted to EUR 95.00 net.

The claims asserted by Robert Fechner include the claim for injunctive relief,claims for damages, the assertion of attorney's fees and documentation costs.

If a photograph has been used without authorization,
the rights holder has a claim for injunctive relief against the infringer. The same applies if the photographer was not named in connection with the publication. In this case, the photographer is entitled to injunctive relief due to a lack of copyright identification. The injunctive relief claim against the rights holder can only be fulfilled by submitting a statement of discontinuance with penalty clause. As warning letters such as Robert Fechner set very short deadlines for the submission of the cease-and-desist declaration with penalty clause, swift action is required. Otherwise, there is a risk of an interim injunction being issued, which automatically means higher costs.

Despite this, we advise warned parties not to sign the cease-and-desist declaration sent by Robert Fechner without prior review. A cease-and-desist declaration is a contract and the claim is not always justified. If you sign a prefabricated cease-and-desist declaration without prior review, you are bound by the content of the contract for life.

In addition to the claim for injunctive relief, Robert Fechner is asserting a claim for damages. This means that you should compensate for the damage incurred for the use of the photograph. The amount of damages can only be determined on a case-by-case basis and is usually calculated according to the so-called "license analogy" . Robert Fechner uses the fee recommendations of the Mittelstandsgemeinschaft Foto-Marketing (MFM recommendations) to determine the amount of damages. In addition, Robert Fechner demands a surcharge of 100% if the author is not named. In the case of a warning from lawyer Robert Fechner regarding the use of an image in an online store, a further 50% is added, whereas a further surcharge of 120% is demanded for a photograph with "global reach".

In addition to the claims for injunctive relief, the legal costs incurred by the rights holders in instructing Robert Fechner are also being claimed. The legal fees are made up of the value of the claim and the business fee. In the warnings we have received from Robert Fechner, amounts in dispute of EUR 6,000.00 of up to EUR 42,000.00 are stated.

Finally, Robert Fechner claims so-called documentation costs in the warning letters. According to Robert Fechner, documentation costs are costs incurred by the rights holders in creating documentation of the infringement that can be used in court. In the warnings we have received, the documentation costs regularly amounted to EUR 95.00 net.