The copyright law dispute, also known by the public as the case of famous actor Kemal Sunal, was concluded with the decision of the Court of Cassation General Assembly of Civil Chambers (“General Assembly”) after going through various stages for many years.[1]
In the lawsuit filed by the heirs of Kemal Sunal, the dispute centers on (i) whether it is possible to accept that Kemal Sunal’s economic rights as a performing artist within the scope of Article 80 of the Law No. 5846…
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“Plagiarism” is not clearly defined in Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works (“LIAW”). Plagiarism, which is defined by the Turkish Language Association as "pilferage," is used in the context of intellectual and artistic works law to mean "to present someone else’s work as your own, taking a piece from someone else’s work without citing the source."
While there is no definition for plagiarism under LIAW, instances of "freedom of quotation" are clearly defined under…
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Work Bearing The Characteristics Of Its Author And The Signs of Work
The Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works ("LIAW"), which has been amended many times since its entry into force in 1952, still causes uncertainty and confusion in practice. The recent decision of the Court of Cassation[1] has been a very guiding and clarifying decision in terms of examining the signs of the work, which are controversial in practice, and the amendments made to LIAW, especially with regard…
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The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has a broad approach and well-established praxis regarding the protection of copyright holders’ rights on fictional works when characters, titles, and associated signs are used in third-party trademark applications. In its recent decision issued in April, the PTO accepted Paramount Pictures’ opposition filed against the trademark application “Don Carpetto”, as shown below, and rejected the registration of the contested application…
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In its decision dated 13 February 2024 (No 2022/4962 E (Merits), No 2024/1005 K (Decision)), the 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation has upheld a Regional Court of Appeal decision confirming a ruling of the Court of First Instance that rejected the plaintiff’s vested rights claims.
Background
On 11 January 2018 an application was filed for registration of the trademark MONTENT in Classes 35, 38 and 41 by the applicant, who also owned a prior registration for MONTENT…
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Chapter 1
Turkey
Aysel Korkmaz Yatkın, Görkem Bilgin, Asena Aytuğ Keser and Edanur Atlı[1]
I. Introduction
i. Nature of the insurance and reinsurance market
There are currently 74 active insurance companies incorporated in Turkey, consisting of 50 non-life insurers, 19 life and pension insurers and five reinsurers.[2]
The premiums collected in 2023 amounted to approximately 486 billion Turkish lira, an increase of 106.8 per cent compared with the previous year. Of this…
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The copyright law dispute, also known by the public as the case of famous actor Kemal Sunal, was concluded with the decision of the Court of Cassation General Assembly of Civil Chambers (“General Assembly”) after going through various stages for many years.[1]
In the lawsuit filed by the heirs of Kemal Sunal, the dispute centers on (i) whether it is possible to accept that Kemal Sunal’s economic rights as a performing artist within the scope of Article 80 of the Law No. 5846…
»
The 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation (“CoC”), in the context of a dispute arising out of a joint film production contract signed between the parties, agreed with the first instance court's finding that, in the absence of a clear determination in the contract as to when the film will be deemed to be completed, this moment should be determined as the time when the film registration certificate is obtained, and decided that the plaintiff was entitled to claim a…
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One of the most striking developments in the music industry in 2023 was the release of the song “Heart on my Sleeves” by an anonymous user named “Ghostwriter” using the AI-created voices of world-famous singers Drake and the Weekend. However, the song “Heart on my Sleeves” did not exist in the music market for a long time due to the removal of the song from the relevant platforms after Universal Music filed a notice of intellectual property infringement. Although the song was…
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Humans have to live as a society in solidarity with others for survival, security, and continuation of the species. Equity (fairness) and cooperation must be core values in these societies if these three basic objectives are to be secured. The survival and progress of societies depend on cooperation which in turn depends on equity and fairness.
Ethics and the law
Although it is far from being ideal, justice is the best means humankind has developed to realise these values.…
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As educated consumers should be taken into account, particularly when comparing the trademarks covering medicines, it is a well-established principle that the likelihood of confusion between the trademarks covering the goods in class 05 is harder to occur. The Turkish Court of Cassation (“the Coc”) has reiterated this concept repeatedly, so the courts strictly adhere to it and consider a great degree of similarity before accepting that healthcare professionals might confuse…
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In accordance with the Regulation on Licensing of Human Medicinal Products, the Guideline on the Working Procedures and Principles of the Priority Assessment Board for Human Medicinal Products ("Guideline"), which sets out the procedures and principles regarding the prioritization applications submitted to the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency ("Agency") and the working of the Priority Assessment Board for Human Medicinal Products ("Board") established within the…
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