At the end of 2024, Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (“the Office”) made a significant move by publishing a revised communiqué on the classification of goods and services for trade mark registration applications. The changes, which came into effect following their publication in the Official Gazette on 20 December 2024, align the Turkish classification system with the latest updates made to the Nice Classification. These revisions aim to make the trade mark application…
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Preliminary and jurisdictional considerations in insurance litigation
Fora
In what fora are insurance disputes litigated?
In the Turkish judicial system, in principle, insurance disputes are resolved by the commercial courts, irrespective of the amount or value of the dispute. On the other hand, insurance disputes arising out of maritime law are heard by a specialised commercial court. Insurance disputes to which a consumer is a party are heard by consumer courts. If a…
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In trademark law, the existence of distinctive character is one of the main criteria for the registration of a trademark, and the overall impression of the trademarks and the elements they contain should be examined in detail when evaluating the likelihood of confusion between trademarks. In cases conducted by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”), it is mentioned that, in addition to the distinctive elements of a trademark, the low distinctive elements…
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On February 25, 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rendered a groundbreaking judgment in the patent infringement case between BSH Hausgeräte GmbH and Electrolux AB, marking a significant ruling not only in Europe but worldwide. This decision is expected to pave the way for the expansion of jurisdiction in patent cases in EU member states and increase competition among courts in the international arena.
The dispute was brought before the CJEU as a…
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The plaintiff, which has been using PETSHOP as a non-registered trademark since 2008, sought the invalidation of PETSHOP for “musical instruments” in Class 15
The IP Court denied the plaintiff’s claims based on its earlier rights in the non-registered mark since the plaintiff’s earlier use did not relate to Class 15 goods
However, the court concluded that the defendant’s PETSHOP mark had been filed in bad faith
A recent case involving the mark PETSHOP reflects the common…
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Would you like to hear more about the chef’s recommendation? First, as a starter, some background information will be provided on a trademark dispute in Turkey that has a culinary theme, with the following steps taken at the administrative stage:
The owner of the above-left trademark opposed a third-party application for the above-right trademark before the Turkish intellectual property office, by addressing the entire coverage of the filing under the Nice Classification…
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To address the challenges arising from the obligation to make payments in Turkish Lira in sale of goods contracts, which are frequently encountered in commercial life, an amendment was made in 2022 to the Communiqué on the Decree numbered 32 Regarding the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Currency (the "Communiqué"). This amendment allowed the contract value to be paid in foreign currency for certain movable sale contracts, except for vehicle contracts, concluded between…
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The case involved a well-known clothing retail company’s blue-and-white colour combination mark, which was opposed by a cosmetics company
The courts found that the colour combination lacked distinctiveness for the relevant goods and services
The case highlights the PTO’s role in examining colour combinations based on absolute grounds during ex ofcio proceedings
Under trademark law, distinctiveness is essential for a mark to function as a source identier, especially when it…
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One of the most striking developments in the music industry in 2023 was the release of the song “Heart on my Sleeves” by an anonymous user named “Ghostwriter” using the AI-created voices of world-famous singers Drake and the Weekend. However, the song “Heart on my Sleeves” did not exist in the music market for a long time due to the removal of the song from the relevant platforms after Universal Music filed a notice of intellectual property infringement. Although the song was…
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Digital fonts combine aesthetics and functionality as a key element of modern design and digital communication. A digital font consists of codes that define how it shall appear on screen[1]. These codes enable fonts to be created and used in the digital environment. In this scope, whether fonts expressed as computer software can be protected under the umbrella of intellectual property law has been subject of various debates. This article aims to discuss how fonts can be…
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Work titles, as signs that distinguish one work from others, may also be protected independently of the work itself. Article 83 of the Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works (“LIAW”) provides a general framework for this protection. Although it is stated in judicial decisions that the name of the work, although it is not a work in itself, will benefit from copyright protection as a part of the work only if it emerges as an effort that makes the work effective by…
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Digital technologies continue to influence and transform the printed publication industry, much like their impact in various other sectors. Within this scope, the European Union (“EU) adopted the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (“the Directive”) to improve copyright laws to better address the challenges arising from the complexities brought by the digital environment.
The Directive, as we reported in our articles published in previous years[1], brings…
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