IP Court Confirms Principle of 'Trademark Series'
The Ankara Second IP Court has confirmed the principle that, in order to benefit from the principle of 'trademark series', not only must the trademark owner own a prior trademark, but the new application must not violate the trademark of a third party and/or create a likelihood of confusion with another trademark (Case 2010/102E - 2011/8K, January 13 2011). The principle of 'trademark series' was recently established by the Court of Appeal: according to this principle, the… »
Patent Institute Decision Confirms Broad Protection of Well-known Marks
n Red Bull GmbH v Mavi Dunya Gida Dag Paz Tic Ltd Sti (December 12 2010), the Re-examination and Evaluation Board of the Turkish Patent Institute has held that there was a likelihood of confusion between the trademarks BULLDOZER ENERGY DRINK and RED BULL among the Turkish public. On February 16 2009 Mavi Dunya Gida Dag Paz Tic Ltd Sti, a company established in Turkey, filed an application to register the following figurative trademark in Class 32 of the Nice… »
Turkey: Turkish Natural Gas Market: A Progressing Opportunity
Introduction Natural gas does not have a long history in Turkey. The initial demand for natural gas consumption was miniscuie, starting at 0,5 bcm in 1987, and increased dramatically in the following years with a growing share of natural gas use in the production of electricity in Turkey. During the first years of Turkey’s acquaintance with natural gas, Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (“BOTAS”), which is a state owned company, conducted ail of the activities in this newly… »
Turkey: Turkish Electricity Market: Steps Towards Liberalization
INTRODUCTION Since 2001, Turkey has been in the process of liberalizing its electricity market. The ultimate purpose of this process is to create a fully liberalized system where the state acts only as a supervisory and regulatory authority instead of an investor in the market. Having a state monopoly in the electricity market for a long period of time, Turkey has made and still has to make considerable effort to achieve this ultimate purpose. In this respect, the state has… »
Turkey: Protection of “Well Known” Trademarks Which are not Registered in Turkey Within the Context Of Article 7/1(1) of the Decree Law No. 556
The widely accepted principle in respect to the legal status of Trademark Rights is the “territoriality principle” as is also the case for other intellectual Property Rights. The territoriality principle is also in effect under Turkish Trademark Law and it is regulated under the Decree Law Pertaining to the Protection of Trademarks numbered 556 (“Decree Law No. 556″). Accordingly, with Article 6 of the Decree Law No. 556 which states that “Protection for a trademark under… »
Amendments to Trademark Decree Law Enter Into Force
Law 5833, which amends Decree Law 556 on the Protection of Trademarks, entered into force on January 28 2009 upon its publication in the Official Gazette. The new law amends Articles 9 and 61 of the Decree Law. The new law aims to fill the gaps created by the January 5 2008 decision of the Constitutional Court, which annulled certain provisions of the Decree Law and came into force on January 5 2009. Trademark owners have claimed that the delay in enacting the amendments have… »
Major Changes to IP Rights Protection at Borders Introduced
Law 5911, which amended the Customs Law 4458, entered into force on October 7 2009. On the same day, the Customs Regulation was published in the Official Gazette. These pieces of legislation introduce major changes to the protection of IP rights at the borders. Law 5911 allows rights holders to file a single (online) application for the protection of their IP rights by all Turkish customs administrations. Previously, rights holders had to file an application with each customs… »
Türk Ticaret Kanunu Tasarısı’nın Genel Kurul Kararlarının Hükümsüzlüğü Yönünden Getirdiği Yenilikler
The Dilemma Of Co-Existence Of Trademarks Under Turkish Law
Trademarks are defined as signs distinguishing the goods and services of one undertaking from the goods and services of the same kind or another undertaking. In this sense, “distinguishing certain goods and services of an undertaking from other goods and services of the same undertaking or other similar goods and services provided by other undertakings” is considered as the main function of trademark. On the other hand, in the usual flow of the business life, since the signs… »
Anti Counterfeiting 2009: A Global Guide, Turkey Chapter
Turkey has closely followed international developments and has acceded to almost all IP-related international treaties, in particular the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). which aims to harmonize the legal framework on anti-counlerfeiting and anti-piracy among World Trade Organization members. Decision 1/95 of the EC-Turkey Association Council on implementing the final phase of the Customs Union and EU Directive 89/101. Turkey… »
MOBIL FUTBOL and MOBIL VIZYON Cancelled in Surprising Decision
The Turkish Court of Appeals has upheld a decision of the Ankara First IP Court in which the latter had ordered the cancellation of the trademarks MOBIL FUTBOL and MOBIL VIZYON (Case 2007/7896 E ve 2009/2456 K, March 3 2009). The case arose from a court action lodged by ExxonMobil based on its MOBIL trademark. The applicant, one of the leading mobile phone companies in Turkey, had applied to the Turkish Patent Institute for trademark protection of the phrases ‘mobil vizyon’… »
Turkey: Generating Electricity From Renewable Energy Resources Under Turkish Law
After the oil crisis in 1973, greater interest was directed towards renewable energy resources. At that time, the aim was to focus on alternative energy resources in order to be less dependent on oil as an energy resource. After it has been proved that the burning of fossil fuels has a negative impact on climate change, the importance of renewable energy resources has been widely recognized throughout the world with an effort to prevent the undesirable effects of pollution… »