What Are the Rules for Alcohol Advertising in Turkey?
Alcohol advertising has been a criticized topic for long time in Turkey. The year 2013 can be considered as milestone in Turkey. There has been a major change in the alcohol regulation. Upon the amendments in the “Tobacco and Alcohol Regulation” any advertising of alcohol products has simply been banned in any kind of media. This ban has included broadcasts on TV and radio, ads in the cinema, product replacement, printed media as well as social media and digital platforms.… »
Registrability of 3D Trademarks
The Turkish Court of Cassation (the CoC) issued a decision in which the registrability of a 3D medical device trade mark is discussed. This paper aims to provide the details of the matter and to remark upon its importance. Background A 3D device trade mark application covering goods in classes 5 and 10 was filed before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (the Office) and was rejected as the Office found the application as non-distinctive and descriptive. Court Phases The… »
New Regulation Regarding the Use of Consumer Reviews
Consumer reviews have become an important part of the advertising ecosystem. These reviews are very influential to potential customers when they are making a purchasing decision. Marketers use reviews in advertising, they host reviews on their websites, they encourage consumers to post reviews on other sites, and some even try to prevent customers from posting negative reviews at all. Although consumer reviews have such a significant impact, the Turkish Law did not have a… »
COVID-19: Guideline on Risk Management Plans for Vaccines Published
On 24 March 2022, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (Agency) published on its official website the Guideline on Essential Requirements for Risk Management Plans of COVID-19 Vaccines (Turkish language). The guideline is prepared as an attachment to Module IV of the Guideline on Good Pharmacovigilance Practices. The guideline aims to provide detailed explanations on the procedures and requirements that marketing authorisation holders should complete for… »
IP Rights Can Also Protect Public Health and Safety
Gün + Partners recently acted in a case that started as an ordinary anti-counterfeiting case, but which was quickly identified as something much bigger. When it turned out that some fake ‘fire-resistant’ glass was not fire-resistant at all, public health and safety became a major concern as well as trademark infringement. The case began after we received a picture of some fire-resistant glass from a global manufacturer of these products. The logo trademark was simply printed… »
What Is Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and What Is Not?
Non-Fungible Token (NFT), which we have heard about more often since the beginning of 2021, is a digital asset that uses blockchain technology and primarily operates within Ethereum. NFT is a digital token that cannot be exchanged or replaced and may represent many tangible objects in the real world, such as songs, artworks, GIFs, virtual game items, videos, and cartoons. NFT is technically not the work itself, whereas it is a metadata file that contains the unique… »
Making Payments in Turkish Lira in Movable Sale Contracts Has Become Mandatory
Former Regulations Concerning FX Prohibition The Presidential Executive Decree numbered 85 and dated 12 September 2018 (the “Decree”) prohibits the private and public residents in Turkey from agreeing their payment obligations in or indexed to foreign currencies in contracts between them concerning sale and purchase of movable and immovable, all kinds of lease and rentals of movables or immovable including vehicle leases and financial leases, employment, service and… »
Liability of the Hosting Providers for Copyright Infringement
One of the most violated rights on the internet is copyright, and nowadays, works such as music, movies and cartoons are published by third parties on various websites, social media accounts, video watching and file-sharing platforms without the owners’ permission. In fact, recently, the unauthorised sharing of cartoons by famous cartoonists on specific internet sites and the legal actions initiated by the authors of these works have created quite a stir; and the issue of… »
Compensation Liability for Copyright Infringement
The author or the owner of a work is entitled to claim compensation in the case of violation of economic and moral rights arising from the ownership of the work protected under Law No. 5846, the Intellectual and Artistic Works (the “LIAW”), in addition to other legal remedies. Article 70 of the LIAW regulates compensation that may be claimed based on violation of economic and moral rights, separately. Accordingly, the author whose moral rights have been infringed, is… »
Ownership of the On-Demand Works
The General Assembly of the Civil Court of Cassation (GACoC) made important determinations with its decision dated 16.01.2020 and numbered E. 2019 / 11-474, K. 2020/26, concerning the scope of the ordering party’s use of the work created within on-demand work agreements, and whether a separate contract is required for the transfer of the economic rights of the author in terms of related uses. In this case, the plaintiff was working as the purchasing manager in the defendant… »
The Advertisement Board Now Has the Authority to Block Access to the Online Content Violating the Advertising Rules
The Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 has been amended by the Law No. 7392 which was published in the Official Gazette on 01.04.2022. The amendments introduced into the Consumer Protection Law include wide range of major changes regarding commercial advertisements, the sanctions to be applied by Advertisement Board, distance sales contracts, e-commerce, refurbished and re-sold products, authorized service and special services within the scope of after-sales services. As per… »
Recent Developments on Using Personal Data Unlawfully Collected as Evidence
According to Article 38 of the Turkish Constitution, findings that are acquired unlawfully cannot be used as evidence. In this respect, using personal data as evidence in disputes requires a legal assessment on whether the personal data is collected lawfully or not. In principle, evidence that are obtained unlawfully shall not be allowed in legal proceedings. As known, the main legislation related to protection of personal data is the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No.… »