Insights
Turkish Patent and Trademark Office’s 2024 Revisions:Updates to the Trademark Classification System
At the end of 2024, Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (“the Office”) made a significant move by publishing a revised communiqué on the classification of goods and services for trademark registration applications. The changes, which came into effect following their publication in the Official Gazette on 20 December 2024, align the Turkish classification system with the latest updates made to the Nice Classification. These revisions aim to make the trademark application… »
Trademark Protection for Work Titles: Challenges and Insights
Article 83 of Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works stipulates that the names of works can be protected independently of the works themselves under the provisions on unfair competition. Our assessment of this protection is discussed in our article, 'Protection of Work Titles'1. An important aspect of work title protection is their registration as trademarks. In practice, it is common for elements of cinematographic works, such as characters and locations, as well as… »
Insights from ICANN 81 and Domain Name Disputes in Türkiye
The 81st ICANN meeting (ICANN 81) was held in Istanbul, Türkiye, in November 2024, offering a significant platform for global discussions on internet governance, domain names, and online policy. The ICANN 81 meeting underscored the importance of evolving global internet governance, particularly through advancements in the New gTLD Program and initiatives like the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS). While these developments highlight strides toward inclusivity and… »
Artificial Intelligence and Trademark Law
One of the areas where the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have been intensively discussed is trademark law; while the changes brought about by this technology make attempt to provide innovative and effective processes in terms of registration processes and determination of infringement, it also makes it necessary to re-evaluate the basic concepts of trademark law. This year, as in previous years, the use of AI technologies by the authorities in relation… »
Online Enforcement in Türkiye: Addressing IP Infringements in the Digital Era
In cases of online infringement of industrial property rights, various actions can be pursued, including civil actions, criminal actions, preliminary injunctions, and notice-and-takedown procedures. Possible ways of enforcement against online infringement is shown below: The legal basis of trademark infringement is regulated under Articles 7 and 29 of the Intellectual Property Code (IP Code). Article 29 of the IP Code states that imitating a trademark or using a mark that is… »
Developments in the Field of Medical Devices
On 26 May 2023, significant changes were made to the Medical Device Promotion Regulation. These changes introduced several new procedures to the medical device sector. Rather than being regulated under separate legislation, these procedures were incorporated into the existing Medical Device Promotion Regulation. According to the updated regulation, additional obligations have been introduced for authorised sales centres for medical devices. These include providing technical… »
Advertisement Board’s Approach to Environmental Claims
The Advertisement Board (“Board”) reviewed numerous advertisements containing claims related to the environment in accordance with the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices (“Regulation”), as well as the Guideline on Advertisements Containing Environmental Claims. The Board’s evaluation provided practical guidance for interpretation of environmental claims’ compliance to law. The Board examined the environmental claims in a cosmetic company’s… »
Functional Equivalence Across Jurisdictions: Convergence Between Turkish Patent Law and the Unified Patent Court
Barely two years after its operational launch, the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) has already begun shaping a transnational doctrine of patent infringement by equivalence. Between late 2024 and mid-2025, four landmark first-instance decisions — Plant-e v Bioo (The Hague LD), Brussels LD CFI 376/2023, Mannheim LD CFI 471/2023, and N.J. Diffusion v Gisela Mayer (Paris LD) — established, refined, and finally harmonised the analytical framework for assessing functional equivalence… »
GSK Succeeds in Bad Faith Case in Turkey
Mutlu Yıldırım Köse and Begüm Soydan report on a case in Turkey concerning the registration of the trade mark Clindoxyl and its use to threaten infringement proceedings against the genuine right holder, in which the courts protected the rightful owner and invalidated the bad faith registration. Background The dispute concerned the bad faith registration of a trade mark that had previously been registered in Türkiye in the name of Stiefel Laboratoires, Inc., an affiliate of… »
Corporate Reporting Obligations Regarding Transactions Affecting Foreign Exchange Position
In light of the amendments made in the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles Regarding the Monitoring of Transactions Affecting Foreign Exchange Positions by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (“Regulation”)on 3 May 2025, the criteria for companies subject to reporting obligations have been revised along with the reporting periods. This development has created a need to re-evaluate the reporting obligation, its scope and other practical issues relating to the… »
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Trademark Enforcement
The effective protection of trademark rights is essential for preserving commercial identity and protecting consumers from misleading or counterfeit products. However, in recent years—particularly with the acceleration of digitalization, traditional enforcement methods have become increasingly inadequate. The global expansion of e-commerce platforms has made it easier for counterfeit goods to circulate online, complicating efforts by trademark owners to safeguard their… »
Legislative Developments for Artificial Intelligence in Türkiye
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… »