Insights
The Protection of Cinematographic Works in Türkiye
LIAW which entered into force in 1952, has been amended in 1995, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, and 2014. The amendments in 1995 and 2001 were major amendments which changed the legal regime for rights to cinematographic works and created legal uncertainty as to the ownership and protection term for rights to cinematographic works. The initial text of the LIAW (dated 1952) recognized the Producer of a cinematographic work as the author and provided for a protection term of 20… »
Non-Fungible Tokens (“NFTs”) and Copyright Law
NFTs have been one of the most popular topics for copyright law during 2022. Discussions were widely held about whether NFTs could be considered copyrightable works, whether purchase of an NFT grants authorship rights to the buyer, which formal requirements are relevant for a valid copyright assignment for an NFT, and which particular rights associated with copyright could be infringed by unauthorized use. Although we are yet to see legislation concerning these issues, many… »
New Turkish Domain Name System Creates a Situation in Need of Resolution
Nic.tr (.tr Domain Name Management), which was established under the auspices of Middle East Technical University, has been managing .tr domain names and dispute resolution processes related to these domain names since 1991. However, under Article 35 of Law No. 5809 on Electronic Communications and the Internet Domain Names Regulation, TRABIS (.tr Network Information System), established by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, became operational on… »
What’s New In The Amended E-Commerce Law For IP
Law No. 7416, amending E-Commerce Law, came into effect on 1 January 2023, and a comprehensive change has been made to Article 9, titled "obligations of intermediary service providers", including the title of the provision. Following this change, the title of Article 9 was changed to "illegal content". According to this article, unless there is a contrary provision in other laws, the general principle is that the intermediary service provider is not responsible for the… »
Protection of Websites Under Turkish Law
Websites that are part of our daily lives consist of many elements such as webpages, the user interface, computer software, databases, and servers. Although there is no set of rules specifically applicable to them under Turkish law, their constituent elements and their content can be conferred legal protection if they meet the requirements of existing legislation. The question of whether websites are conferred additional legal protection separate from their constituent… »
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… »
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… »
News and Events
Gün + Partners is attending IBA Annual Conference in Sydney
Our partners Mehmet Gün, Ugur Aktekin, Pelin Baysal, ÖZGE KARAKULAK and managing associate Ozan Karaduman are attending IBA Annual Conference Sydney 2017. Please contact gun@gun.av.tr if you wish to meet with them.
Life Sciences Newsletter, April 2017
Changes in guidelines on named patient programmesDicle Doğan and Merve Çimen, Gun + Partners On 29 March 2017, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency amended the Guidelines on the Supply from Abroad and the Use of Pharmaceuticals. The amended guidelines establish a new practice in the Named Patient Programme (NPP) that enables the Social Security Institution to import non-approved or unavailable pharmaceutical products from abroad on a named patient basis. The…
Uğur Aktekin has spoken in seminar co-hosted by FICPI - TÜRKİYE and TÜRKPATENT
Our partner Uğur Aktekin, co-chair of our IP practice and president of FICPI - TÜRKİYE, has spoken on standards of the profession of IP attorneys during the serial seminars co-hosted by FICPI - TÜRKİYE and TÜRKPATENT in İstanbul and Ankara from Oct 30-31, 2017.
Summer Internship
2017 yılında, 19 yasal stajyer ve 100’den fazla yaz stajyeri büromuzda farklı çalışma gruplarında staj tecrübesi edindi. 2018 yılı staj programları için web sitemizden bilgi edinebilir ve başvuru yapabilirsiniz.
INTA Pre–Annual Meeting co-hosted by Gün + Partners
INTA Pre–Annual Meeting co-hosted by Gün + Partners in İstanbul, Turkey on Feb 16, 2018. Önder Erol Ünsal, founder of "IPR Gezgini" shared his IP Law Blogging experience with regards to trademark law.
Model Court of Justice 2018
Güldeniz Doğan Alkan, partner in our intellectual property practice, was the keynote speaker for the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Enterprise Court during the Model Court of Justice 2018 in Ankara, Turkey on Feb 09, 2018.
Barış Kalaycı spoke in Intellectual Property Rights in Fashion Law Seminar
Barış Kalaycı, partner and co-chair of our intellectual property practice, has spoken on “Intellectual Property Rights in Fashion Law” during the seminar hosted by Hukukçular Derneği (Jurists' Association Turkey) in Istanbul on Mar 10, 2018.
Özge Atılgan Karakulak and Selin Sinem Yalıncaklı spoke on in MIP International Patent Forum 2018
ÖZGE KARAKULAK and Selin Sinem Yalıncaklı ERCİYAS, partners in our Life Sciences and Patent practices respectively, spoke on preliminary injunctions in Turkey in the MIP International Patent Forum 2018 in London on Mar 08, 2018.
Mehmet Gün's new book Turkey’s Middle Democracy Issues and the Way to Solve Them
"TURKEY’S MIDDLE DEMOCRACY ISSUES Judiciary, Accountability, Fair Representationand THE WAY TO SOLVE THEMWe are proud to announce the publication of our founder Mehmet Gün’s new bookYou may download an executive summary in English and in Turkish."
Mehmet Gün and Uğur Aktekin have been listed in IAM Strategy 300 - The World’s Leading IP Strategists
"Congratulations to Mehmet Gün, our founding partner, and Uğur Aktekin, co-chair of our Intellectual Property Practice, for being listed in IAM Strategy 300 – The World’s Leading IP Strategists. http://www.iam-media.com/Search?at=IAM+Strategy+300&qs=g%C3%BCn+%2B+Partners"
Mehmet Gün gave an interview in H+ Magazine
Kurucu Ortağımız Av. Mehmet Gün, Hukuk Akademisi - H+ Dergi söyleşisinde avukatlık mesleği ve yargıdaki sorunlar hakkında düşüncelerini paylaştı ve yeni çıkan kitabı, Türkiye’nin Orta Demokrasi Sorunları ve Çözüm Yolu, hakkında bilgi verdi
Mehmet Gün was moderator at GC Summit Turkey
Mehmet Gün, our founding partner will be moderating the panel on "The In-House Counsel’s Guide to Best Practice for (Alternative) Dispute Resolution in Turkey" at GC Summit Turkey by The Legal 500 (Legalease) in Istanbul on Sep 27, 2018 with the panellists Cem Kalpaklıoğlu from TOROS TARIM and Atike Kökbudak from Kordsa. https://lnkd.in/gkUUV64