Insights
The Guideline on Consumer Reviews
The Guideline on Consumer Reviews (“Guideline”), enacted by the Advertisement Board at the meeting dated 12.09.2023 and numbered 337, was published. The purpose of the Guideline is to inform advertisers, advertising agencies, media organizations and persons, institutions and organizations engaged in advertising activities on fundamental principles regarding consumer reviews, obligation of informing consumers and procedure for checking reviews before publication, along with… »
Discount Sale Ads and Loyalty Programs Under the Microscope
The Advertisement Board ("Board") closely monitors the discount sales campaigns, which have become a tradition in e-commerce, held in November and known as "Legendary November Discounts", "Fabulous Friday Discounts", where discounts at various rates are announced for a large number of products. The Board imposes administrative sanctions on discount sales advertisements and practices that deceive and mislead consumers and create the perception that there is a higher price… »
Alcoholic Beverage Advertisements through Alibi Branding
Brand communication of alcoholic products to consumers is strictly prohibited in Türkiye and there is full prohibition of advertisement of alcohol, any manner in all forms of media. This ban includes broadcasts on TV and radio, advertisements in cinema, product placement, printed media, as well as advertisements on social media and digital platforms. Alibi branding is an alternative mechanism for promotion of alcohol brands and in fact, this is a grey area. Although there is… »
Dark Patterns on the Advertisement Board's Agenda
Unfair commercial practices, also known as the "dark patterns", have entered the agenda of the Advertisement Board. Dark patterns may in fact be considered as unfair commercial practices regulated under the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices ("Regulation"). Pursuant to the Regulation, a consumer-oriented commercial practice is deemed to be unfair if it does not comply with the requirements of professional care and if it significantly impairs… »
Does Artificial Intelligence Tell the Truth?
Being aware of the fact that technological developments have diversified the ways in which commercial advertisements are created and presented to consumers, the Advertisement Board ("Board") scrutinized the advertising content created by artificial intelligence for the first time during its meeting dated September 12, 2023 and numbered 337. In Türkiye, there is no regulation that directly addresses advertisements created by using artificial intelligence. The Board evaluated… »
Green Or Simply Greenwashing?
Advertisers frequently integrate environmental claims into their advertisements and promotions to portray their products and services as eco-friendly or green, and to shape consumers’ perception as to their positive environmental impact. This is particularly influenced by the growing environmental consciousness among consumers and advertisers. However, to prevent advertisements that may be false and misleading to consumers, or which exploit their environmental sensitivity… »
Boundaries of Competition in Labor Markets: An Analysis in Terms of No-Poaching Agreements and Ancillary Restraints Defense
The consecutive investigations initiated by the Competition Board ("Board") due to competition violations in labor markets, with the first one in 2021, have stirred significant attention. Following the investigations concerning 32 undertakings, primarily consisting of innovation-based technology companies, which resulted in substantial administrative fines imposed on some of the undertakings within the scope of the investigation, the investigations initiated against 19… »
Inventorship of AI and Türkiye’s Position
Artificial intelligence has begun taking over roles normally performed by humans with little difficulty, including the act of inventing. As a result, debates on whether artificial intelligence can be the owner of an invention have emerged across the global and are likely to open many novel discussions. The debate on whether an artificial intelligence system can be an inventor began after the development of DABUS, the artificial intelligence system developed by Dr. Stephen… »
EU Pharmaceutical Package - EU Pharmaceutical Legislative Reform and its Impact on Türkiye
On 26 April 2023, the European Commission (the “Commission”) adopted a proposal for a new Directive and Regulation (the “Proposal”) which revise and replace the existing general pharmaceutical legislation. The proposal adopted by the Commission replaces the existing general pharmaceutical legislation (Regulation 726/2004 and Directive 2001/83/EC) and the legislation on pharmaceuticals for children and rare diseases (Regulation 1901/2006 and Regulation 141/2000/EC… »
Preventing Price Decreases of Original Pharmaceutical Products with Partial Preliminary Injunctions
Timely and appropriately strategized action is key for owners of pharmaceutical patents wishing to maximise benefits of the rights granted to them. The Turkish Industrial Property Code regulates the exemption of patent rights concerning experimental acts regarding the product subject to the invention, as well as marketing authorisation, and the necessary testing and experiments within its scope. In practice, the Courts occasionally erroneously interpret the wording of the law… »
Possible Effects of a Unified Patent Court in Türkiye
The concept of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) entered the lives of European Patent holders with the UPC Agreement, an international agreement dated 19 February 2013. The Unified Patent Court started operating as of 01 June, 2023. The Unified Patent Court constitutes a big and important step towards unity of the judiciary for European Union member states. The Statistics and Trends Centre of the European Patent Office (EPO) reported that 17,788 unitary effect requests were made… »
Fending Off Tactical Patent Invalidation Actions
Filing patent invalidation actions for tactical purposes, such as jeopardizing patent infringement actions of patent owners and gaining time by complicating the infringement proceedings, has become a common strategy of infringers in recent years. With this strategy, the parties infringing the patent may cause the patent owner to suffer due to the inability to enforce their patent as they are entitled to during the limited protection period of 20 years, even if the invalidity… »
News and Events
Hande Hançar, Zeynep Çağla Üstün, and Pınar Arıkan Will Participate in the PatentMeet Mentorship Program
Hande Hançar, Zeynep Çağla Üstün, and Pınar Arıkan will be mentors in the PatentMeet Mentorship Program, which is organized by Patent Effect. Gün + Partners is one of the sponsors of the PatentMeet Mentorship Program, which offers participants who are interested in acquiring knowledge in the protection, management, and development of intellectual property rights or are aspiring to pursue a career in intellectual property the opportunity to have one-on-one mentorship…
We Hosted the 17th FRIDAY IP TALKS Event, Which was Organized in Collaboration Between LES Turkey and AIPPI Turkey
The event featured speakers Güler Ayyıldız Dalma, Barış Atalay, and Utkan B. Bakırcı, and focused on the topics of "Unitary Patent" and "Unified Patent Court" through questions and answers related to implementation.…
We Delivered Combating Counterfeiting at Customs Trainings in İzmir
Our Anti-Counterfeiting team delivered presentations at the in-service training sessions organized by the General Directorate of Customs on December 5-6, 2023, in Izmir. These sessions, attended by customs officers from the Aegean Customs and Foreign Trade Regional Directorate, focused on the protection of intellectual and industrial property rights at customs. Our lawyers represented clients from the automotive, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, textile, and food industries…
We gave training on Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Customs
Our Anti-Counterfeiting team made presentations with 8 lawyers for 24 of our clients during the “Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Customs Training” organized with the General Directorate of Customs in Istanbul on April 10-11. "
Mehmet Gün and Pelin Baysal spoke at Turkish-Ukrainian Infrastructure Forum
"Mehmet Gün, our founding partner made the opening speech and Pelin Baysal, co-chair of our dispute management practice spoke on the "Dispute resolution: preventing and resolving disputes efficiently" panel at "Turkish-Ukrainian Infrastructure Forum: Creating Opportunities Together" in Kyiv, Ukraine, organized by our firm together with Ukrainian Arbitration Association (UAA), International Turkish Ukrainian Businessmen Association (TUID) and Integrites."
Our Lawyers Have Been Recognised as Mondaq Thought Leading Authors
We are delighted our lawyers have been recognised as Mondaq Thought Leading Authors for the below categories at the Mondaq Autumn 2023 awards. Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment & Data Protection: New Regulation From ICTA On Social Network Providers Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences: New Regulations on Nutrition and Health Claims for Food and Food Supplements Mondaq Autumn 2023 Thought Leadership Awards, showcase top authors based on total readership between April…
We Are the "Firm of the Year in Turkey" by WWL Awards 2023
We are pleased to announce that our firm has been recognized as the "Firm of the Year in Turkey" by Who's Who Legal. Our partners Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş and Beril Yayla Sapan represented our firm at the award ceremony held at The HAC in London. Each year Who’s Who Legal identifies the individuals and firms that have performed exceptionally well in their research. After an in-depth assessment of the findings, Who’s Who Legal announces awards for the leading firms in over 70…
We are Proud to Announce that Our Firm and Our Lawyers have been Recognized at the LMG's Life Sciences Awards 2023 EMEA
We are proud that our firm named as "EMEA White Collar Crime Firm of the Year" and our partners, Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş, recognized as “EMEA Antitrust Competition Lawyer of the Year” and Beril Yayla Sapan recognized as “EMEA White Collar Crime Lawyer of the Year” by LMG's Life Sciences Awards 2023 EMEA. The LMG Life Sciences EMEA Award winners have been announced at a live gala ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton in London. Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş and Beril Yayla Sapan…
We Attended the ITechLaw 2023 European Conference
Our firm was represented by Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş, partner in our Technology, Media and Telecom, and Data Protection and Privacy practices at the ITechLaw 2023 European Conference taking place in Amsterdam on 18 - 20 October.
We Attended IBA Annual Conference in Paris
Our firm was represented by Özge Atılgan Karakulak, Advisory Board Member of IP and Entertainment Law Committee, and Görkem Bilgin at the International Bar Association (IBA) Annual Conference 2023 in Paris.
Simultaneous Raids in Istanbul Resulted in the Seizure of 160 Thousand of Counterfeit Leather Goods & Sneakers
We conducted simultaneous raids against four manufacturers located by our in-house investigation team in Istanbul, with the attendance of 120 police officers this week. The raids have been conducted in high tension due to riots and resulted in the seizure of 160,000 pieces of high-end counterfeits, including 40,000 pieces of leather bags, wallets, sneakers etc., and 120,000 pieces of semi-finished goods and production materials, which are worth around 1 million…
We Hosted a Coctail Reception as part of the 2023 AIPPI World Congress
We were thrilled to host an unforgettable cocktail reception at the Bosphorus as part of the 2023 AIPPI World Congress in Istanbul. Colleagues from around the world gathered in this beautiful city, and we were excited to welcome them all to a night of networking, laughter, and celebration. Thank you to everyone who joined us, making this reception a true highlight of the night!…