Instagram users in Austria are currently receiving cease-and-desist letters over the track “Sunny Bossa” in a Reel — often picked straight from the Instagram music library. The sums demanded are around €11,000. We examine whether the claim is justified and, above all, whether the licence fee demanded is appropriate in amount — and we reply for you within the deadline.
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AI Awards 2024 Leading Civil Litigation Lawyer of the Year — Austria Unlike most music cease-and-desist campaigns, this one is not about an entire repertoire but about a single title: “Sunny Bossa” (ISRC DEH742418803), an instrumental bossa-nova piece released in 2024. According to our information, the wave in Austria targets uses of this track alone. If you have received such a letter, you are far from the only one.
“Sunny Bossa” can be selected from the Instagram music library and has accordingly been used as background music in a great many Reels — for workouts, recipes, travel or product features. The platform's audio search makes those uses easy to find with little effort.
The claims are raised on behalf of the holders of the exploitation rights in the track; the letters are sent by an instructed law firm. The same wave has been running in Germany since the spring of 2026.
What is demanded is a legally binding and enforceable cease-and-desist undertaking, information about the uses over the past year, compensation plus interest, and reimbursement of the intervention costs — according to the letters we have seen, around €11,000 in total. On top of that comes the demand to publish the undertaking on your own profile for two weeks. The deadline is two weeks.
If the deadline passes without a response, court enforcement of injunctive, removal and damages claims is announced. Even then there is still room for a commercially sensible solution — and if need be we will represent you through every instance.
Most of those affected did not download the track from somewhere; they selected it inside the app. The surprise is correspondingly great. Legally, however, what matters is what the platform's licence covers — and what it does not.
Under the platform's terms, the Instagram music library covers personal, non-commercial use. That is why the selection available to business accounts is restricted. The fact that a track is offered in the app does not yet mean you were allowed to use it for any purpose.
Those affected are often trainers, coaches, studios, restaurants and self-employed people whose profile is also their shop window. Whether a Reel is still private or already promotional depends on the individual case — on the type of account as much as on the content and purpose of the post. That is exactly where the review starts.
High view counts are impressive, but they say little about what the use was worth commercially. What matters is what reasonable parties would have agreed as a licence for such a use. More on this in our article on calculating the licence analogy (in German).
“Sunny Bossa” is an instrumental piece that runs as background music in a large number of Reels. Whether amounts of the order demanded are actually paid on the market for such a use is one of the central questions when examining the amount.
Anyone who receives such a letter looks at the amount first. That is understandable — but it is not where the case is decided. Alongside payment, a cease-and-desist undertaking is demanded, and that injunctive claim can be pursued in court independently.
That is the value usually attributed to the injunctive claim in copyright matters — and the letter itself relies on it. The litigation cost risk is measured against the amount in dispute, not against the sum originally demanded.
Anyone who only negotiates the amount, or ignores the payment demand, leaves the actual danger untouched. Only once the risk of repetition has been reliably removed does the injunctive claim lose its basis.
It has to remove the risk of repetition without reaching further than necessary. An undertaking drafted too widely binds you for years and well beyond the case at hand; one drafted too narrowly does not remove the risk and invites a claim.
From numerous proceedings in this field we know what counts: drafting the cease-and-desist undertaking and building the response so that going to court makes little commercial sense for the other side. That is where legal support generally pays for itself — not in haggling over a few hundred euros.
These letters come with short deadlines and can trigger considerable cost risks. The enclosed cease-and-desist undertaking should therefore never be signed unchecked. We keep the free initial assessment clearly separate from any further legal work — that only follows if you actually instruct us after the conversation.
You call, we take the time for a short general assessment — how plausible the demand is, the rough range, how urgent action is, and what stage you are at (cease-and-desist letter or claim).
The initial assessment is free and without obligation. Only then do you decide how to proceed.
We go through the specific letter in detail, discuss it with you and set out your options along with the opportunities and risks. After that you know where you stand — and can decide at your leisure whether we should act for you.
In many cases a modified cease-and-desist undertaking is the commercially smartest route. It removes the risk of repetition. In parallel we settle on the best strategic response to the payment demand — matched to your actual scope of use and your appetite for risk.
The aim is to settle the matter quickly, as cost-effectively as possible and out of court. If a claim has already been served, or the other side turns to the courts, we represent you with decades of litigation experience — from interim injunction proceedings to full court proceedings, through every instance if need be.
We don't promise outcomes — that would not be serious. What we can tell you: we keep costs comprehensible from the outset, and the entry point is deliberately low so that nobody reacts wrongly out of worry about legal fees.
Free of charge. A short general assessment on the phone costs nothing. You will learn whether — and how urgently — action is needed.
Flat fee of €200 net. We go through the specific letter in detail, discuss it with you and set out your options along with the opportunities and risks. After that you decide at your leisure whether we should act for you.
Hourly rate €380 net. If you then instruct us, in our experience around two hours is often sufficient. That covers settling the strategy, drafting the modified cease-and-desist undertaking and the response to the other side. If a claim has already been served, the effort depends on the proceedings.
Measured against a demand of around €11,000 and an injunctive claim valued at €57,000, that is a manageable investment — and the point at which the course is set.
Cease-and-desist letters over music in social media videos come from a range of senders. You'll find the broader picture here: Music cease-and-desist letters on social media. For copyright cease-and-desist letters in general, see Copyright cease-and-desist letter — what now?
Read on: Music cease-and-desist — overview · Copyright cease-and-desist letter
We examine whether the claim is justified and, above all, whether the licence fee demanded is appropriate in amount — and we reply within the deadline. On business days we react quickly, within 24 hours at the latest. Directly with Dr. Tonninger or Dr. Albrecht.
