Insights
DERBY Case: Court of Appeal Overturns Lowercourt Decisions in Controversial Ruling
In opposition proceedings, the Court of Appeal has found that there was copyright infringement since the opponent’s logo had been copied in the mark applied for The well-known status of the earlier mark also served as a basis for the decision Arguably, the court correctly found that the applicant’s trademark should not be registered, but erred in its reasoning Background The owner of the DERBY trademark, registered and well known for razor blades, opposed an application for… »
Data Breach Notification
The Data Protection Law requires data controllers to notify the relevant data subject and the Board as soon as possible when being made aware of such data breach. In its decision dated January 24, 2019 and numbered 2019/9, the Board clarified the rules and procedures to be applied in data breach incidents. The Board takes the GDPR approach in terms of timing of breach notifications, and clarified that the term of “as soon as possible” must be interpreted as 72 hours of… »
Data Controllers’ Registry (VERBIS)
Pursuant to Article 16 of the Data Protection Law, an obligation to register in the Data Controllers Registry has been introduced for data controllers. In 2018, the Board issued decisions granting exemptions from registration obligation to certain professional groups, associations and political parties. The Board also granted a general exemption to local data controllers that have less than 50 employees, and actively less than TRY 25 million on their balance sheets. Data… »
Court of Appeal Reverses Own Decision in WING CHUN Case
The First-Instance IP Court rejected a request for the invalidation of the mark WING CHUN in Classes 41 and 45, and the Court of Appeal affirmed On further appeal, the Court of Appeal reversed its own opinion The court held that the mark should be invalidated for some of the remaining services in Class 41 Background In 2011 the defendant applied to register the trademark WING CHUN in Classes 41 and 45, including sports activities, educational services, organisation of… »
Court of Appeal: Plaintiff Lost its Right to Claim Trademark Infringement Due to Silence
In a case involving several MESA marks, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that the plaintiff had lost its right to claim trademark infringement due to its silence The court applied this principle even though the defendant had not clearly raised it as a defence The case highlights that loss of right to sue due to silence is an important tool for defendants in trademark infringement/invalidation actions Background The plaintiff, acting as the owner of the trademark MESA and… »
Constitutional Court's Recent Decision on Reviewing Employees’ Corporate E-Mails by Employers
Reviewing employees’ corporate e-mail addresses by employers and relying on any findings collected during the inspection in a potential termination has been a controversial issue in terms of protection of personal data and privacy. The Constitutional Court rendered two decisions within the last four years regarding the right to privacy and privacy of communication aspects of the matter. Both decisions particularly elaborate on information of employees. Constitutional Court's… »
Compensation Claims Arising out of Distribution Agreements under Turkish Law
Introduction As a sui generis agreement under Turkish law, distribution agreement mainly contains the characteristics of a sales and purchase agreement; however, it also differs from the same since the distributor's role is not limited to simply purchasing the products from the supplier/principal and selling them to customers or end-users. Instead, in a distribution agreement, the distributor is incorporated into the distribution chain of the supplier with having the right… »
Cookies & Similar Technologies in Turkey
1. GOVERNING TEXTS 1.1. Legislation There is no specific legislation applicable to cookies and similar technologies. However, to the extent that cookies and similar technologies include or may be used to collect any data related to an identified or identifiable individual (personal data), then Law on Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 ('the Law') and its secondary legislation are also applicable to cookies and similar technologies which may be used by data controllers… »
Claiming Compensation for IP Infringement
IP right owners suffer a huge amount of damages in some IP right infringement cases as they invest substantial amounts for their rights. Therefore, compensation claims are of vital importance for IP right owners in order to recover their damages, protect reputation and have a deterrent impact on the infringing party. Since every IP right infringement act is primarily a tort, it is necessary to prove the wrongful act, fault of the infringing party, incurred damage and the… »
Can Foreign Court Decisions Concerning IP Rights Be Enforced in Turkey?
In principle, a court order rendered in a country has its legal effects and consequences only within the same country. For a foreign court decision to create legal effects and consequences in Turkey, this decision needs to be legally recognised and enforced by Turkish courts. The regulations regarding the recognition and/or enforcement of foreign court decisions are stipulated between Article 50 and 59 of the International Private and Civil Procedure Code (IPCPC) numbered… »
Borders and Principles of Processing Employee Data in Turkey in Light of DPA and Court Decisions
Click here to watch the webinar on this topic. Private life has been protected under the Turkish Constitution before the enactment of Data Protection Law came into force in 2016 in Turkey. Disputes related to monitoring employee personal data in the work place have been subject to court decisions based on the constitutional provisions mostly and also several decisions have been taken by the Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) in this respect. Legal grounds for data processing… »
Arbitration Proceedings Regarding Determination of Reasonable Amount for Employee’s Invention
In 2020, an arbitration judgment was held in accordance with the ISTAC serial arbitration procedure regarding the compensation request for employee invention and, as far as it is known, this is the first and pilot file in which the Regulation on Employee Inventions, Inventions in Higher Education Institutions and Public Funded Projects, will determine the price tariff for employees’ inventions and the arbitration procedure to be followed in case of dispute. Within the scope… »