Insights
Higher Board corrects implementation of goods and services limitations in landmark decision
The Higher Board recognised that stricter conditions apply to the limitation of goods and services for national applications compared to international applications filed via WIPO The limitation applications rejected by the Trademarks Department were in accordance with the law and should have been accepted The decision emphasises that parties should be encouraged to resolve disputes through amicable agreements Background The Trademarks Department of the Patent and Trademark… »
Chef’s Recommendation: Turkish Case Offers a Tasty Takeaway for Trademark Owners
Would you like to hear more about the chef’s recommendation? First, as a starter, some background information will be provided on a trademark dispute in Turkey that has a culinary theme, with the following steps taken at the administrative stage: The owner of the above-left trademark opposed a third-party application for the above-right trademark before the Turkish intellectual property office, by addressing the entire coverage of the filing under the Nice Classification… »
Data Controllers’ Registry (VERBIS)
Pursuant to Article 16 of the Law, data controllers who meet certain criteria are obliged to register with the Data Controllers’ Registry ("VERBIS"). The procedures and principles regarding the VERBIS system, which is open to the public, are determined by the "Regulation on the Data Controllers Registry" dated December 30, 2017 ("VERBIS Regulation"). With the Board's decisions dated 2018, various professional groups, associations, foundations and political parties were… »
Protection of Personal Data In the Field of Artificial Intelligence
With the rapid expansion of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and its integration into all areas of life, it has become essential to establish a legal framework that regulates the safe and ethical development, distribution and use of AI systems, considering the complexity and unique characteristics of this technology. In addition to promoting the safe, transparent, and human rights-respecting development of AI technologies, and aiming to protect the safety, rights, and… »
Use of Hemp in Production of Pharmaceuticals
Hemp cultivation in Türkiye came to the forefront with the “Symposium on Local Governments in the Presidential Government System” held on 9 January 2019, followed by the preparation of the “Report and Action Plan on Industrial Hemp Cultivation in Türkiye”. The hemp cultivation reached a significant stage with the publication of the Law on Amendments to the Forestry Law and Certain Laws on 5 April 2025. This law encourages the production of fibre, seeds, and stems, with the… »
Updates on the Ban Regarding Foreign Currency Payment in Movable Sale Contracts
To address the challenges arising from the obligation to make payments in Turkish Lira in sale of goods contracts, which are frequently encountered in commercial life, an amendment was made in 2022 to the Communiqué on the Decree numbered 32 Regarding the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Currency (the "Communiqué"). This amendment allowed the contract value to be paid in foreign currency for certain movable sale contracts, except for vehicle contracts, concluded between… »
Named Patient Program
The Named Patient Programs (NPP) are import regimes that allow medicines not authorized in Türkiye or authorized but unavailable for various reasons to be imported from abroad upon request by a physician. Following publication of the Regulation on the Importation of Medicines from Abroad ("NPP Regulation") published on 3 February 2023, the roles of stakeholders in the relevant process have been clarified. According to this NPP Regulation, institutions and organisations… »
Artificial Intelligence and Copyright: Challenges and Opportunities
AI technologies and their relationship with Intellectual Property (IP) rights have remained a prominent topic on the global agenda this year, as they were last year. With the increasing presence of generative AI models such as ChatGPT, BERT, LaMDA, and DALL-E2, which are capable of creating original content by processing data like text, images and sound, debates continue over whether the outputs generated by these models qualify as copyrighted works, who owns the rights to… »
Competition Investigations in the Shadow of the Settlement Procedure
According to the Competition Authority's (“Authority”) activity report for 2023, it is seen that 68 of the 117 investigation files were concluded with settlements and 28 files were concluded with commitments. Although the activity report for 2024 has not yet been published by the Authority, announcements of final decisions on its website indicate that the majority of investigations in 2024 have also been concluded through settlement. Investigation of competition law… »
Interactions with Health Care Professionals, Transfer of Values and Conditions of Payment
Promotion activities for pharmaceutical products for human use are regulated under the Regulation on the Promotion of Medicinal Products for Human Use dated 3 July 2015 (“Promotion Regulation”). The Promotion Regulation stipulates that the promotion of pharmaceutical products can only be conducted with healthcare professionals such as doctors, dentists, and pharmacists. As a result, the interaction of pharmaceutical companies with patients are limited, and direct… »
Medicines and Medical Devices Sectors: Current Status and Evolving Dynamics
The pharmaceutical sector saw a 2.7% increase in production in 2023. However, between January and July of 2024, there was a 5.2% decrease compared to the same period in the previous year. By 2023, pharmaceutical imports increased by 8.8% reaching a value of 5.4 billion USD, while pharmaceutical exports grew by 15.8% to the size of 2.2 billion USD. In the first half of 2024, exports rose by 1.9%, while imports increased by 4.9% [1]. In 2023, the Turkish pharmaceutical market… »
Named Patient Program
Named Patient Programs (“NPP”) is one of the exceptional pharmaceutical importation regimes for products that are not authorized or authorized but unavailable in the Turkish market for various reasons. In cases where a product does not have marketing authorization in Türkiye or has marketing authorization but cannot be found on the market, and patients need the product in question, it is possible to procure the pharmaceutical via this method upon the request of a physician.… »
News and Events
Begüm Soydan Sayılkan and İrem Girenes Yücesoy spoke at the “Living Brands Conference"
Begüm Soydan Sayılkan and İrem Girenes Yücesoy recently spoke at the “Living Brands Conference” organized by EGİAD on December 18, 2023. They focused on the development of brand protection strategies and discussed the new trademark revocation procedure effective from January 10, 2024.
We Hosted the 17th FRIDAY IP TALKS Event, Which was Organized in Collaboration Between LES Turkey and AIPPI Turkey
The event featured speakers Güler Ayyıldız Dalma, Barış Atalay, and Utkan B. Bakırcı, and focused on the topics of "Unitary Patent" and "Unified Patent Court" through questions and answers related to implementation.…
We Delivered Combating Counterfeiting at Customs Trainings in İzmir
Our Anti-Counterfeiting team delivered presentations at the in-service training sessions organized by the General Directorate of Customs on December 5-6, 2023, in Izmir. These sessions, attended by customs officers from the Aegean Customs and Foreign Trade Regional Directorate, focused on the protection of intellectual and industrial property rights at customs. Our lawyers represented clients from the automotive, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, textile, and food industries…
We gave training on Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Customs
Our Anti-Counterfeiting team made presentations with 8 lawyers for 24 of our clients during the “Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Customs Training” organized with the General Directorate of Customs in Istanbul on April 10-11. "
Mehmet Gün and Pelin Baysal spoke at Turkish-Ukrainian Infrastructure Forum
"Mehmet Gün, our founding partner made the opening speech and Pelin Baysal, co-chair of our dispute management practice spoke on the "Dispute resolution: preventing and resolving disputes efficiently" panel at "Turkish-Ukrainian Infrastructure Forum: Creating Opportunities Together" in Kyiv, Ukraine, organized by our firm together with Ukrainian Arbitration Association (UAA), International Turkish Ukrainian Businessmen Association (TUID) and Integrites."
Our Lawyers Have Been Recognised as Mondaq Thought Leading Authors
We are delighted our lawyers have been recognised as Mondaq Thought Leading Authors for the below categories at the Mondaq Autumn 2023 awards. Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment & Data Protection: New Regulation From ICTA On Social Network Providers Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences: New Regulations on Nutrition and Health Claims for Food and Food Supplements Mondaq Autumn 2023 Thought Leadership Awards, showcase top authors based on total readership between April…
We Are the "Firm of the Year in Turkey" by WWL Awards 2023
We are pleased to announce that our firm has been recognized as the "Firm of the Year in Turkey" by Who's Who Legal. Our partners Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş and Beril Yayla Sapan represented our firm at the award ceremony held at The HAC in London. Each year Who’s Who Legal identifies the individuals and firms that have performed exceptionally well in their research. After an in-depth assessment of the findings, Who’s Who Legal announces awards for the leading firms in over 70…
We are Proud to Announce that Our Firm and Our Lawyers have been Recognized at the LMG's Life Sciences Awards 2023 EMEA
We are proud that our firm named as "EMEA White Collar Crime Firm of the Year" and our partners, Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş, recognized as “EMEA Antitrust Competition Lawyer of the Year” and Beril Yayla Sapan recognized as “EMEA White Collar Crime Lawyer of the Year” by LMG's Life Sciences Awards 2023 EMEA. The LMG Life Sciences EMEA Award winners have been announced at a live gala ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton in London. Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş and Beril Yayla Sapan…
We Attended the ITechLaw 2023 European Conference
Our firm was represented by Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş, partner in our Technology, Media and Telecom, and Data Protection and Privacy practices at the ITechLaw 2023 European Conference taking place in Amsterdam on 18 - 20 October.
We Attended IBA Annual Conference in Paris
Our firm was represented by Özge Atılgan Karakulak, Advisory Board Member of IP and Entertainment Law Committee, and Görkem Bilgin at the International Bar Association (IBA) Annual Conference 2023 in Paris.
Simultaneous Raids in Istanbul Resulted in the Seizure of 160 Thousand of Counterfeit Leather Goods & Sneakers
We conducted simultaneous raids against four manufacturers located by our in-house investigation team in Istanbul, with the attendance of 120 police officers this week. The raids have been conducted in high tension due to riots and resulted in the seizure of 160,000 pieces of high-end counterfeits, including 40,000 pieces of leather bags, wallets, sneakers etc., and 120,000 pieces of semi-finished goods and production materials, which are worth around 1 million…
We Hosted a Coctail Reception as part of the 2023 AIPPI World Congress
We were thrilled to host an unforgettable cocktail reception at the Bosphorus as part of the 2023 AIPPI World Congress in Istanbul. Colleagues from around the world gathered in this beautiful city, and we were excited to welcome them all to a night of networking, laughter, and celebration. Thank you to everyone who joined us, making this reception a true highlight of the night!…