Insights
Dealing With Social Media Influencers - Türkiye
Influencer marketing through social media influencers has achieved giant growth in the advertising sector. Brands, including global and local ones, co-operate with social media influencers to advertise their brands, goods and services because social media influencers are very capable of directing the consumers’ buying habits into certain brands via the presentations, recommendations and compliments they make. Similarly, based on global research statistics, Türkiye ranks… »
Is It Really Number One Of Türkiye?
Article 8 of the Regulation on Commercial Advertisement and Unfair Commercial Practices ("Regulation") permits comparative advertisements under specific conditions. Subparagraph (a) requires that such advertisements should "not be misleading or deceptive," while subparagraph (f) mandates that "claims based on objective, measurable, and numerical data must be substantiated by scientific tests, reports, or documents." Additionally, Article 9, titled "Burden of Proof," specifies… »
Turkish Court of Cassation’s Highlighting Decisions on Conceptual Similarity Evaluation
In the 1st paragraph of Article 6 of the Industrial Property Law no. 6769, which regulates the relative refusal grounds in trademark registration, the existence of a likelihood of confusion requires the condition of “identicalness or similarity” of the trademarks along with the similarity of the goods and/or services. During the evaluation of the similarity between the trademarks, the focus is commonly gathered on visual, aural and semantic similarity. The existence of any… »
Amendments to the Consumer Protection Law and E-Commerce Law
The Law No. 7529 on Amendments to the Consumer Protection Law and Certain Other Laws was published in the Official Gazette dated 30 October 2024 and numbered 32707. The law introduced amendments particularly to the direct sales provisions and administrative fines ruled by the Consumer Protection Law, as well as to the E-Commerce Law. Some amendments took immediate effect upon its publication date, while others will come into force later. Key Amendments to the Consumer… »
Calendarization Process for the Market Authorization of Medicines
Introduction The Guidelines for the Calendarization Process of Medicinal Products for Human Use (the “Guidelines”) aims to regulate the process for the market authorization applications on medicinal products for human use filed with the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (the “Agency”). The Agency has determined the procedures and principles for calendarization processes of the applications found eligible in the pre-assessments. The Guidelines has been initially… »
The Most Remarkable Competition Law Issue of Recent Years: Competition Violations in Labor Markets
With the on-site inspections and investigations conducted by the Competition Board (“Board”) in recent years, against innovation-oriented technology companies, pharmaceutical companies, and companies operating in the information technology sector due to competition violations in labor markets, a need has arisen to provide clarity regarding the application of the Law on the Protection of Competition (“Law”) to labor markets and how anti-competitive agreements that restrict… »
Second Round of Comments on Draft Regulation For Pharmaceutical Promotions
In the second quarter of 2024, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (the “Agency”) published an announcement on its website, opening the Draft Regulation on the Promotional Activities of Human Medicinal Products and Food for Special Medical Purposes (the “Draft”) for external comments. Significant amendments proposed in the initial version can be reviewed by clicking here. Updates have been made to the Draft based on the opinions of sector stakeholders. The… »
Infinity Case Highlights Importance of Global Appreciation
The Court of Cassation has approved the First Instance Court’s decision in a case involving several INFINITY marks, shedding light on the principle of global appreciation of trademarks in the similarity examination. Background On 8 January 2018 the applicant filed an application to register the trademark depicted below for “flying services by means of paragliding” in Class 41 before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (PTO): After the application was published in… »
The Supervisory Power of The Re-Examination and Evaluation Board
It is observed that the supervisory power of the Re-examination and Evaluation Board (“Higher Board”), which is in charge of examining and finalizing appeals against the decisions taken by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (the “Office”) regarding the registration of IP rights, is in the form of a review of expediency. This issue is regulated in paragraph 4 of Article 6 of the Regulation on the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office Board of the Re-examination and… »
From Plant to Pill: Introducing Cannabis to the Pharma Industry
The Regulation on the Cultivation and Control of Cannabis for the Production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients ("Regulation") prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (“Ministry”) was published and came into force upon being published in the Official Gazette numbered 32661 dated 13 September, 2024. The Regulation includes provisions on the control, harvesting, evaluation, processing, disposal, display, export and/or purchase/sale of cannabis cultivation for the… »
The Turkish Court of Cassation Reminds of the Significance of “Vested Rights” in Two Recent Decisions: Frigo V Frico
Güldeniz Doğan Alkan and Dilan Sıla Kayalıca of Gün + Partners consider the Turkish Court of Cassation’s two recent decisions, underlining the significance of “vested rights” in the Turkish trademark law. The concept of “vested rights” is notable in the Turkish trademark law, as it serves as a strong defense against potential refusal of a later mark because of the likelihood of confusion it may create against an earlier one. In its two recent decisions related to the court… »
IP Rights 2024 in Türkiye: Overview
Patents Requirements to Obtain a Patent 1. Provide a brief definition of a patent, the key legal requirements to obtain it and the law that applies. Conditions for a Patent A patent is an industrial property right that gives the patent owner the right to prevent third parties from certain activities such as producing, using, selling, or importing the product or process that is the subject of the invention for a 20-year period. The applicant must prove the following to obtain… »
News and Events
We Have Co-Hosted INTA Pre–Annual Meeting Reception
We have hosted INTA Pre–Annual Meeting in Istanbul on April 03, 2023. Hande Hançar made the opening speech and informed the attendees about the INTA and its 2023 Annual Meeting Live+ in Singapore and our guest speaker Hande Yaşargil made the ''Diversity and Inclusion: For a Better Workplace and Future'' presentation.
We Have Been Selected as the “Firm of the Year” in Turkey
We are honoured our firm has been awarded as "Firm of the Year - Turkey” for the for the sixth year in a row by Who’s Who Legal. The winners were selected on a range of factors, including feedback received from clients and peers in the research process, breadth and depth of practice area and geographical capability and the number and proportion of individuals selected as WWL Thought Leaders. The award ceremony attended by more than 200 guests from more than 40 practice…
Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş Spoke on Screen of the Future Podcast
Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş, partner in our Data Protection and Privacy practice spoke on ‘’Protection of Our Personal Data’’ on the fifteenth episode of the Screen of the Future Podcasts. You can click to listen (in Turkish): https://open.spotify.com/episode/1TsXFBN9wKfwRA5yZKW9nh The Screen of the Future Project which carried out in partnership with Netflix, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Turkish National Committee and Habitat Association aims to spread the concepts…
We Hosted Kadir Has University Law Society Member Students in Our Office
We hosted Kadir Has University Law Society member students in our office. At the event where our lawyers came together with university students; Dilan Sıla Kayalıca, made a presentation about our firm and services.
Gün + Partners Top Ranked by WTR 1000 2023
We have been named as the top tier firm and our 9 practitioners are recognized as the leading individuals in the World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000: The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals 2023. The resource identifies the leading trademark practitioners and firms from around the globe, offering the definitive ‘go-to’ guide for those seeking legal trademark expertise. https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/rankings/wtr-1000/country/turkey World Trademark Review writes: Hub…
Hande Hançar and Baran Güney Spoke at Özyeğin University
Hande Hançar and Baran Güney made a presentation on ‘’Regulations on Social Media Advertisements’’ at the Advertising Law class where they attended as guest speakers at Özyeğin University.
Our Lawyers Met with ELSA Ankara Members
As part of the "Lawyers @ Work" event, we hosted ELSA (European Law Students Association) Ankara member law students in our office. Our lawyers shared their working in a full service and institutional law firm experience with ELSA Ankara members and answered the questions of the participants about our firm.
İrem Girenes Yücesoy Met with Students at Career Days Organized by Koç University
İrem Girenes Yücesoy, senior associate in our trademarks and designs practice, attended online career days event organized by Koç University Law Club and Career Development Center. İrem Girenes Yücesoy met with university students, talked about career opportunities, employee experience, operating models of our practice areas, and responded to students’ questions.
Dicle Doğan, Spoke on Anti-Corruption Rules in Life Sciences Industry in Turkey at Seton Hall Law School Program
Dicle Doğan, managing associate in our life sciences practice, shared her experience on “Anti-Corruption rules in life sciences industry in Turkey” at Middle East Healthcare Compliance Certificate Program, organized by Seton Hall Law School in Dubai, U.A.E.
Announcement of New Managing Associate and Senior Associate Promotions, 2023
We announce the promotion of our lawyers Baran Güney, Direnç Bada and Yalçın Umut Talay to managing associate; Ahmet Kürşat Yıldız, Atahan Erkul, Cansu Evren, Ezgi Kut and Merve Çimen Sevine to senior associate taking effect from 1 February 2023.
Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş Attended IAPP Europe Data Protection Congress 2022
Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş, partner in our Data protection and privacy practice, was the facilitator of Women Leading Privacy Section Meet-Up at IAPP Europe Data Protection Congress 2022 in Brussels on November 16th. https://iapp.org/conference/iapp-europe-data-protection-congress/
Scholarships and Mentoring Support to 50 University Students and Our Donation to UNICEF Türkiye in Wake of Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes.
To the people of the Republic of Türkiye, We are devastated by the great loss lives and the enormous moral and material destruction caused by the Kahramanmaraş earthquake across the 10 provinces in the affected region. We pray that all those who have passed away may rest in peace, and wish swift recovery, patience and resilience to those rescued and yet to be rescued. We wish the greatest ease in their rescue efforts to the volunteers, and all public and private…