Insights
Legislative Proposal on the Amendment of the Law on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Preparations No. 1262 and Certain Laws
The Legislative Proposal on the Amendment of the Law on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Preparations No. 1262, Certain Laws and Decree Law No. 663 (“the Legislative Proposal”) dated March 20, 2023, and numbered 2/5006 is an omnibus bill having some amendment offers regarding the regulating legislation of the health sector. The Legislative Proposal suggests defining the obligation of registration and notification to the Drug Tracking System at the level of the law, updating the… »
Notes from the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index for Turkey
On 23 January 2020, Transparency International announced the much-awaited results of the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index (the “CPI 2019”), which reflects the perception of country experts, non-governmental organisations and representatives of the business world of corruption in public sector. The CPI 2019 scores 180 countries and territories on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The results, unfortunately, did not come as too much of a surprise for Turkey… »
Pricing of Pharmaceuticals and the Fixed Exchange Rate
Pharmaceutical prices in Turkey have always been a controversial issue. The prices of medicines for sale are set under the Decision on Pricing of Human Medicinal Products (“Decision”) and the Communiqué on the Pricing of Human Medicinal Products (“Communiqué”) of September 29, 2017, issued by the Ministry, which is vested with the competencies to regulate this area. The Decision provides a reference pricing system, whereby the least expensive ex-factory price in one of the… »
Recent Developments in TURKPATENT's Practice on Recording of Well-known Trademarks
We have previously reported on the Turkish Court of Cassation’s decision concluding that the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (hereinafter will be referred to as “TURKPATENT” or “the Office”) has no authority to create and maintain a registry for well-known trademarks and discussed possible repercussions of this decision for trademark owners. (Please see https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/article/court-of-cassation-reopens-debate-recordation-of-well-known-trademarks) The… »
The Revocation Procedure of Trademarks to be Handled by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office
Until the Industrial Property Law No. 6769 (“IPL”) entered into force on January 10, 2017, procedures regarding trademark rights were carried out with the abolished Decree-Law No. 556 on the Protection of Trademarks (“Decree Law”). The concept of "revocation", one of the cases of termination of a trademark right, regulated in both legislations, was defined under Article 14 of the Decree-Law. However, Article 14 was cancelled by the Constitutional Court with the decision… »
Is Partial Victory a Real Victory?
In 2022, the Ankara Regional Court of Appeal (“the RCA”) rendered a decision for an appeal regarding a cancellation action against the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office’s ( “the Office”) decision. Based on this decision, it is concluded that if an argument is rejected during the opposition proceedings before the Office and no appeal is filed against the non-acceptance of this argument before the Higher Board of the Office (even though the decision is in favour of the… »
A Precedent on 3D Trademarks’ Enforcement
In 2022, the Turkish Court of Cassation (“TCoC”) rendered a decision evaluating that the use of a 3D trademark (shown below) as bag-locks on counterfeit goods infringed the trademark holder’s rights and the accused should have known that this 3D shape is a trademark. The case subject to the precedent decision had started with the 3D trademark owner submitting a criminal complaint by arguing that their 3D trademark was used on counterfeit products. After the case turned into… »
Can The Accused be Acquitted Solely on The Grounds That The Number of Seized Counterfeits Is Very Low?
The acts considered as infringement of trademark rights are regulated under Article 29 of Industrial Property Law no. 6769 (“IPL”) and article 29/1(c) states that “To imitate the trademark upon using the trademark or its indistinguishably similar version without the permission of the holder; to sell, distribute, to trade in any other way, to import, export, keep for commercial purposes the products bearing the trademark used by means of violation…” constitute trademark… »
New Regulation from ICTA on Social Network Providers
The definition of "Social Network Provider" was first introduced in the amendments made to the Law numbered 5651 on the Regulation of Internet Broadcasts and Prevention of Crimes Committed through Such Broadcasts (“Internet Law”) that came into force on October 01, 2020. These amendments introduced several regulations for social network providers. The Information and Communication Technologies Authority ("ICTA") initially decided the scope and application of the regulations… »
Turkish Court of Cassation Rules in CERAN v CERAMO Case
In a recent case, the General Assembly of Civil Chambers of the Turkish Court of Cassation ruled that although the defendant argued that the earlier trade mark CERAN originates from the word “ceramic”, this is not the case and CERAN functions as a trade mark for Turkish consumers. Therefore it can block the latter trade mark CERAMO from being registered for similar goods. History of the dispute The dispute dates back to 2015. Schott opposed the Turkish trade mark application… »
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Trademarks
NFTs have been significantly popular in 2022 from a trademark law perspective like many other fields. As many more businesses in various industries have carried their trademarks to Metaverse and launched NFT collections in 2022, the number of trademark applications covering NFTs has significantly and proportionally increased .[1] To satisfy the high demand and urging need caused by this trend, European Union Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”) published a guideline that… »
Regulation on Hearings Through Video and Audio Transmission
Introduction Law 7251 on the Amendment of the Civil Procedure Code and Certain Laws entered into force upon publication in the Official Gazette (31199) on 28 July 2020. Article 17 of the Law 7251 amended Article 149 of the Civil Procedure Code (“CPC”) 6100 to allow courts to conduct remote hearings through video and audio transmission either upon the parties' request or ex officio under certain circumstances. The amendment further provided that the principles and procedures… »
News and Events
Özge Atılgan Karakulak Listed in Top 250 Women in IP 2022
Congratulations to Özge Atılgan Karakulak to be recognised as Managing IP's Top 250 Women in IP 2022 edition. This special publication recognises some of the senior female IP practitioners in private practice who have performed exceptionally for their clients and firms in the past year.
Barış Kalaycı spoke in Pharmaceutical Trade Marks Group 99th Conference
"According to latest annual report of Pharmaceutical Security Institute, medicines intended for Turkish market were identified in 198 new incidents that were detected in 44 countries located in seven different regions of the world, thus, Turkey is now considered as one of the global suppliers of diverted and counterfeit medicines. Baris Kalayci, chair of our anti-counterfeiting practice, spoke on ""Fighting Counterfeit and Diverted Medicines in and from Turkey"" at…
Better Justice Association, Structural Reforms Summit
"Kurucusu olduğumuz Daha İyi Yargı Derneği çatısı altında ülkemizin daha iyisini ve ilerisini gerçekleştirmesi için çalışıyoruz. Daha İyi Yargı Derneği’nin TÜRKONFED ile birlikte 24 Ekim 2019’da Ankara’da düzenlediği zirvede Yapısal Reform, hukukun üstünlüğü ve hesapverirlik önerilerimizi paylaşacağız. Detaylı bilgi ve kayıt için tıklayınız: http://www.dahaiyiyargi.org/haberler-duyurular/yapisal-reformlar-zirvesi-24-ekimde-ankarada/"
World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000 2021 Rankings Are Announced
We are pleased to announce that we have been named as the top tier firm and our 8 practitioners are recognized as the leading individuals in the World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000: The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals 2021. WTR 1000 focuses exclusively on trademark practices and practitioners, has established itself as the definitive ‘go-to’ resource for those seeking world-class legal trademark expertise.…
Announcement of New Managing Associate and Senior Associate Promotions, 2022
We are pleased to announce the continued growth of our firm with the promotion of Cansu Akbıyıklı to managing associate, Emine Taşkıran and Fatma Sevde Tan to senior associate taking effect from 1 March 2022.
Webinar: World IP Day - IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future – Trademarks and Copyrights Perspective
Gün + Partners celebrated the World IP Day with webinars. Enjoy the fireside chat between Ugur Aktekin and our guest Ashli Weiss Uğurlu discussing IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future – Trademarks and Copyrights Perspective. Topics How Ashli, as a young and passionate IP lawyer, has used IP as an innovative tool while building her own career How young entrepreneurs shall benefit from IP, in particular trademarks and copyrights, while starting up their…
Asena Aytuğ Keser Is Promoted as Managing Associate
We are pleased to announce the promotion of Asena Aytuğ Keser as our new managing associate. Asena has been with Gün + Partners since 2011. She specializes in dispute management, employment, business crimes and anti-corruption, and insurance and reinsurance practices. Asena advises and represents clients in various commercial disputes before courts and arbitral tribunals, including high profile compensation cases, M&A and shareholders disputes, insurance disputes, and…
Mehmet Gün and Pelin Baysal to speak in Turkish-Ukrainian Infrastructure Forum
"Mehmet Gün, our founding partner and Pelin Baysal, co-chair of our dispute management practice will be panellists at ""Turkish-Ukrainian Infrastructure Forum: Creating Opportunities Together"" on November 13 at Fairmont Grand Hotel, Kyiv, Ukraine, organized by our firm Gün + Partners together with Ukrainian Arbitration Association (UAA), International Turkish Ukrainian Businessmen Association (TUID) and Integrites. Click below for…
Beril Yayla Sapan and Edanur Atlı Introduced Gün + Partners at Bilkent University’s 10th Law Students Forum
Our lawyers Beril Yayla Sapan, partner and a graduate of Bilkent University Faculty of Law, and Edanur Atlı attended the 10th Law Students Forum organized by Bilkent University Career in Law Club on Sunday, February 27, and introduced our office.
Dicle Doğan Met with University Students at Istanbul Bilgi University 21st Career Days in Law
Dicle Doğan, managing associate in our life sciences and intellectual property practices, represented Gün + Partners at the 21st Career in Law Days organized by Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law. Dicle Doğan met with university students, talked about career opportunities, employee experience, operating models of our practice areas, and responded to students’ questions.
Mehmet Gün Spoke at the Better Justice Association Conference
Mehmet Gün, president of Better Justice Association, spoke on the the innovative solutions they developed for the judicial system of Turkey at the "Turkish Judicial Reform A to Z" Conference.
Baran Güney Will Talk at “Evolving Regulation of the Use of Consumer Reviews” webinar by International Advertising Association
Consumer reviews have become an important part of the advertising ecosystem and these reviews can be 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. “Evolving Regulation of the Use of Consumer Reviews” webinar by International…