Insights
Named Patient Program in Turkey
Named Patient Program (“NPP”) is one of the exceptional pharmaceutical importation regimes for products that are not authorized or authorized but unavailable in the Turkish market for various reasons. After numerous allegations in the news that the drugs supplied from abroad and used in cancer treatment were only products containing painkillers and that the products were counterfeit, the Regulation on the Supply of Medicines from Abroad (“NPP Regulation”) was published on… »
Omnibus Law Amends Pharmaceutical Legislation
On 1 March 2024, the Omnibus Law Amending Certain Laws and Decree Law No. 663 (the “Omnibus Law”), which amends certain provisions of the Law No. 1262 on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Preparations (the “Law No. 1262”) and the Fundamental Law on Healthcare Services No. 3359 (the “Law No. 3359”), was published in the Official Gazette numbered 32476. In the general preamble of the Omnibus Law, it was stated that social and economic transformation, rapidly developing technology… »
Enforcement of Foreign Judgments 2024 in Turkey
Treaties Is your country party to any bilateral or multilateral treaties for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments? What is the country’s approach to entering into these treaties, and what, if any, amendments or reservations has your country made to such treaties? Except for multilateral treaties on family law, Turkey is not a signatory to multilateral treaties for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. However, Turkey is a… »
Jurisdictional Conflicts in Global FRAND Cases and the EU's WTO Complaint against China for Alleged Violation of TRIPs
Anti-suit injunctions ("ASI") issued by Chinese courts, which prevent parties of proceedings concerning standard-essential patents ("SEPs") from bringing proceedings against each other in different countries, have become one of the controversial issues in these proceedings, highlighting the "jurisdiction of the court". As is known, in the case of SEPs, the first issue that confronts the patent holder and the company implementing the SEP is whether a licence has been asked… »
The Long-Awaited Amendments to the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law Has Been Enacted
The Law No. 7499 on Amending the Code of Criminal Procedure and Certain Laws (“the, which includes the long-awaited amendments to the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law (the “Law”) and is also referred to as the 8th Judicial Reform Package, was published in the Official Gazette dated 12 March 2024 and numbered 32487. Significant changes regarding the processing of sensitive personal data, cross-border transfer of personal data, administrative sanctions and legal remedies… »
Turkish Court of Cassation’s Recent Approach to Public Policy in Enforcement and Setting-Aside of Foreign Arbitral Awards
In general terms, public policy is defined as a set of rules and principles ensuring a smooth conduct of public services, a state’s security and safety, and compliance of the relationship between individuals with the principles of peace and ethics[1]. Due to its conceptual nature and vulnerability to a turmoil of different interpretations, violation of public policy appears as one of the most prevalent counter arguments in enforcement and setting-aside proceedings of foreign… »
Combating Counterfeit and Smuggled Drugs
Foreign pharmaceutical trademarks, in principle, are registered in the name of the companies in the countries where they are established, and trademark protection procedures are managed by those companies. Although affiliates in Türkiye are not a party to trademark protection proceedings, since they become the marketing authorization holders of the drug, they are considered the relevant addressee of the Ministry of Health (“MoH”) in all transactions related to the… »
New Legislation on IP Infringement on e-Commerce Platforms
Law No. 7416, amending E-Commerce Law came into effect on January 01, 2023. This law obliges e-commerce platforms to take down a product if they receive a legitimate complaint alleging that a violation of intellectual and industrial property rights has occurred on their platform. According to Law No. 7416, the general principle is that the intermediary service provider (i.e., the platform) is not responsible for the illegality of the content offered by the service provider.… »
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Trademark Law
The impact of the spread of artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies can be seen in many areas of law, including trademark law. The rapid development of AI technologies has given rise to the need to re-evaluate some of the basic practices and concepts of trademark law. The first aspect of these developments is the use of AI in trademark application, registration and other related administrative procedures. As can be seen from the Index[1] published by the World… »
The Relationship Between Virtual and Physical Goods and Services
The development of NFTs, artificial intelligence, and the metaverse has seen many individuals and legal entities start to include virtual goods and services within the scope of their trademarks. Discussions have been widely held about whether virtual goods and services are similar to physical goods and services and under which class these goods and services should be included in the Nice Classification, and the following developments have taken place in this regard. In a… »
It’s Time for Administrative Revocation of Trademarks!
Before the Industrial Property Law (“IP Code”) no. 6769 entered into force on January 10, 2017, procedures related to trademark rights were governed by the former Decree Law no. 556 on the Protection of Trademarks (“Decree Law”). While revocation of trademarks is dealt with by both pieces of legislation, the introduction of the IPL brings a major change to Turkish Trademark Law, stating that requests for revocation of trademarks must be filed with the Turkish Patent and… »
Can Trade Names Lead to Trademark Infringement in Turkey?
There are questions concerning whether a trade name or business name can constitute trademark infringement and unfair competition, particularly in cases where the trade name is not used as a trademark. This criticism has been disputed under both the Decree Law No. 556 Pertaining to Protection of Trademarks and the Industrial Property Code (“IP Code”)[1]. The Courts has made numerous decisions regarding this topic. The issue was discussed in the decision dated 08 February… »
News and Events
Özge Atılgan Karakulak Listed in Top 250 Women in IP 2023
Congratulations to Özge Atılgan Karakulak to be recognised as Managing IP's Top 250 Women in IP 2023 edition. This special publication recognises some of the senior female IP practitioners in private practice who have performed exceptionally for their clients and firms in the past year.
We Attended INTA's 2023 Annual Meeting Live+
Our firm was represented by our partners Barış Kalaycı, Güldeniz Doğan Alkan, Mutlu Yıldırım Köse, Uğur Aktekin, Zeynep Seda Alhas and Director Pınar Arıkan at the INTA's 2023 Annual Meeting Live+ in Singapore.
We Attended London International Disputes Week
Our firm was represented by our partner Beril Yayla Sapan and managing associate Asena Aytuğ Keser at the London International Disputes Week 2023.
We Are Registered for INTA's 2022 Annual Meeting Live+ (1)
Our firm will be represented by our partners Barış Kalaycı, Hande Hançar, Uğur Aktekin, Zeynep Seda Alhas and Director Pınar Arıkan at the INTA's 2022 Annual Meeting Live+ in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. For all details of the conference program please click here.
The Legal 500 EMEA 2023 Results Announced
We are delighted to have been recognized as one of the leading domestic firms of Turkey by The Legal 500 EMEA 2023 and to have the “Top Tier” rankings in 3 out of 9 practice areas we are ranked. We are proud that our 3 lawyers are listed in the elite "Leading lawyers" group, 4 lawyers are listed in the "Next generation lawyers" group, and 2 lawyers are listed in the "Rising stars"…
The Legal 500 EMEA 2022 Results Announced
We are delighted to have been named as one of the major domestic firms of Turkey by The Legal 500 EMEA 2022 and to have the “Top Tier” rankings in 3 out of 9 practice areas we are ranked. We are proud that our 3 lawyers are recognized as "Leading Individual", 2 lawyers as "Partners: Next Generation lawyers" and 3 lawyers as “Associates: Rising Stars lawyers” in their practice areas. https://www.legal500.com/firms/10998-gun-partners/11375-istanbul-turkey/
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.