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.… »
Does Technical Function Impede Copyright?
The question of whether appearance features of utilitarian objects with technical functions can benefit from copyright protection has become a debated issue in recent years, and it has also started to find a place in the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In the decision of the CJEU, dated June 11, 2020, and numbered C-833/18, it was evaluated how appearance features of products with technical functions can benefit from copyright protection. The… »
Data Protection Law in General
On April 7, 2016, a new law on the protection of personal data came into force in Turkey: The Law on the Protection of Personal Data numbered 6698 (“Data Protection Law”). It is the first law of its kind in Turkey, specifically regulating the protection of personal data. The Data Protection Law is a step towards harmonizing Turkish legislation with EU legislation, and it was prepared based on Directive 95/46/EC on data protection (“Data Protection Directive”). The Data… »
Application of the Data Protection Law
The Data Protection Law applies to data controllers who process and transfer personal data. In the situation where data controllers utilise the services of third-party data processors for these processes, the law holds them jointly liable for taking all of the technical and administrative measures required to ensure the safeguarding of personal data and to prevent any unlawful access or processing. The Data Protection Law does not envisage the scope of its application in… »
Lawful Data Processing
Processing Personal Data Personal data can be processed based on the below specified legal grounds: If explicit consent of the data subject is obtained; If processing is clearly proposed under the laws; If processing is mandatory for the protection of life, or to prevent the physical injury of a person, in cases where that person cannot express consent, or whose consent is legally invalid due to physical disabilities; If processing is necessary for and directly related to… »
Singapore Convention Entered into Force on 11 April 2022 in Turkey
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (“the Singapore Convention”) on 20 December 2018, which was signed by Turkey on 07 August 2019 in Singapore. Turkey enacted the Law No. 7282 dated 25 February 2021[1] concerning the approval of the Singapore Convention, which was followed by the Presidential Decree (3866) dated 21 April 2021[2] concerning its ratification. Finally, with the Presidential… »
Similarity of Short Trademarks: Patent and Trademark Office Deviates From Practice in Groundbreaking Decision
Minor alterations were previously considered sufficient for consumers to distinguish between short marks The PTO recently held that the word mark M + PLUS was similar to the opponent’s series of earlier M marks The office diverged from standard practice in a decision that focused on the overall impression made by the marks on consumers Background When the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office assesses whether two signs are confusingly similar under Article 6/1 of the… »
Explicit Consent under The Data Protection Law
Explicit consent has been defined as consent that relates to a specified issue, declared by free will, and based on information. The definition provides that not all kinds of consent will suffice under the Data Protection Law. The data subject must know for what s/he is giving consent and must clearly express his/her consent. For example, consent obtained in English from non-English speakers in Turkey would not be considered to be explicit consent. Further, implied consent is… »
Constitutional Court’s Last Judgement on Inspection of Employees' Correspondences
With the judgement dated 28 December 2021 and numbered 2018/34584[1], the Constitutional Court discussed the employer’s examination of the employees’ correspondence sent through the messaging program called WhatsApp and the termination of the employment contracts based on these correspondences, within the scope of the right to privacy and freedom of communication. In the said decision, the Constitutional Court ruled that the employer's obtaining of the contents of the… »
Transfer of Personal Data to Third Party
Sensitive and non-sensitive personal data may be transferred to third parties if the data subject’s explicit consent is obtained or if one of the additional legal grounds is applicable for such transfer. The Data Protection Law does not define a third party; therefore, any individual or entity (other than the data controller and the data subject) may be considered a third party. This creates a problem, especially about transfers between data controllers and data processors… »