Insights
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… »
A New Era in .Tr Extended Domain Names - and a New Issue Waiting for a Solution
Nic.tr (".tr" Domain Name Management), established under the auspices of Middle East Technical University ("METU"), has been managing ".tr" domain names and dispute resolution processes related to these domain names since 1991. According to Article 35 of the Electronic Communications Law No. 5809 and the Internet Domain Names Regulation, TRABIS (".tr" Network Information System), established by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority ("BTK"), became… »
Decision on Pricing of Human Medicinal Products Amended with New Price Calculation
On 14 March 2023, the Presidential Decree numbered 6932 Amending the Decision on Pricing of Medicinal Products for Human Use (Turkish Language) (Decision) was published in the Official Gazette numbered 32132. The Decision introduces a new calculation for the real source price of products where the source price cannot be determined with the Presidential Decree numbered 6365 Amending the Decree on Pricing of Medicinal Products for Human Use that was introduced in November 2022… »
Medicines and Medical Devices Agency Publishes Guideline on Co-Marketing
On 17 February 2023, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (Agency) made an announcement (Turkish language) on its official website that it had published a Guideline on Human Medicinal Products that are Co-marketed (Guideline). The Guideline came into force on the day of its publication. The Guideline aims to provide guidance on licensing of co-marketed human medicinal products, cancellation or suspension of the main product's marketing authorisation and… »
News and Events
Our new managing associates announcement
"We are pleased to announce the promotions of Berrin Dinçer, Dicle Doğan and Selda Ercan as our new managing associates. Berrin Dinçer, Dicle Doğan ve Selda Ercan’ın yönetici avukat olarak atandığını duyurmaktan mutluyuz. https://gun.av.tr/our-team/"
Legal500 2019 Rankings Announced (1)
We are proud to have the “Top Tier” rankings in 5 out of 9 practice areas we are ranked by The Legal 500 and delighted that our 7 lawyers are listed as "Leading Lawyers" with 2 lawyers listed as “Next Generation Lawyers” in their practice areas.
Özge Karakulak, spoke on compliance environment in life sciences industry in Turkey at the Seton Hall Law School program
Özge Atılgan Karakulak, chair of our Life Sciences practice, shared her experience on compliance environment in life sciences industry in Turkey at Middle East Healthcare Compliance Certificate program organized by Seton Hall Law School faculty in Dubai, U.A.E. https://law.shu.edu/compliance/health/middle-east/speakers.cfm
We have co-hosted INTA Pre–Annual Meeting in İstanbul
International Trademark Association (INTA) Pre–Annual Meeting was co-hosted by Gün + Partners in Istanbul on May 03, 2019. Ugur Aktekin made the opening speech and informed the attendees about the INTA and its 141st annual meeting in Boston, which is scheduled to start on May 18, 2019. Ugur Yalciner spoke about code of conduct rules for trademark attorneys. https://lnkd.in/dY7GqUs
We won Euromoney Benchmark Litigation’s inaugural award for Law Firm of the Year for Turkey in 2019
We are delighted our firm won Euromoney Benchmark Litigation’s inaugural award for Law Firm of the Year for Turkey in 2019. @Benchmark Litigation recognises the most distinguished law firms for their dispute resolution work over the past 12 months. #disputeresolution #litigation https://www.benchmarklitigation.com/articles/benchmark-litigation-europe-awards-2019/arkwqbxx https://www.benchmarklitigation.com/articles/benchmark-litigation-europe-awards-2019/arkwqbxx
We won Who’s Who Legal Country Firm of the Year Award for Turkey for the 3rd consecutive year
"We are honoured our firm has been awarded the “Who’s Who Legal Country Firm of the Year Award for Turkey” for the 3rd consecutive year in 2019. Who’s Who Legal says: “Following thousands of interviews conducted and nominations received, our research has emphatically identified you as standing apart from all other firms in the country this year. This award is in recognition of the exceptional calibre of your firm’s work in your country over the past year.”…
Begüm Yavuzdoğan spoke in IAPP Turkey, Tech and Policy Meeting
"Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş, managing associate in our TMT practice and IAPP Turkey KnowledgeNet co-chair, and Emily Sharpe, privacy and public policy manager at Facebook, spoke about data protection at ""Turkey, Tech and Policy"" meeting in Galatasaray University. https://lnkd.in/g7vxECS"
Our "Key Developments and Predictions for Patent Law in Turkey" thought leadership paper launched
Our “Key Developments and Predictions for Patent Law in Turkey” paper discusses the issues surrounding the interpretation and implementation of the key changes introduced by the IP Code. https://gun.av.tr/key-developments-and-predictions-for-patent-law-in-turkey-2019/
Ugur Aktekin made the opening speech of FICPI-Turkey 7th Roundtable Meeting
FICPI - TÜRKİYE 7th Roundtable meeting was held on June 14, 2019. Following the opening speech by Mr. Ugur Aktekin, the President of FICPI – TURKEY, specialized courts and Supreme Court approaches were discussed in terms of trademark similarity, and evaluations were made on different examples of Turkish Patent and Trademark Office. https://lnkd.in/g956W8g
Özge Atılgan Karakulak has been listed in Top 250 Women in IP 2019 by Managing IP
"Congratulations to Özge Atılgan Karakulak, chair of our Life Sciences practice, for being listed in Top 250 Women in IP 2019 by Managing IP. https://www.ipstars.com/articles/managing-ips-top-250-women-in-ip-2019/arwgdwra"
We Are Supporting Turkey's Digital Transformation
We are providing legal support to @TÜSİAD's Digital Industry Program (SD2) to strengthen digital transformation process and technology supplier ecosystem in Turkey. https://tusiadsd2.org/destekciler
Webinar: Trademark Protection in Europe During COVID-19
COVID-19 pandemic spread all around Europe by March 2020 and has been effecting also trademarks and trademark protection in practice. Gün + Partners hosted this webinar to provide a unique opportunity to learn about the impacts of COVID-19 to the practice of trademark law before trademark offices and courts in various European jurisdictions. The difficulties in combating with anticounterfeiting, including customs will also be covered. Join us to learn more about current…