Contributors Gün + Partners

“In recent legal debates, the patentability of AI-generated inventions has been contentious. Historically, only humans were considered inventors, anchored in notions of personhood and intellect. Yet, in a bold move, South Africa and Australia's Federal Court recognised AI, specifically DABUS, as a potential inventor in 2021, defying conventional views. Proponents argue that this accommodates modern innovation trends, while sceptics raise concerns about ownership rights, potential inundation of trivial patents, and diminished human oversight. With patent laws varying globally, the landscape remains dynamic. As AI's role in R&D grows, more countries could re-evaluate their stances, reshaping the intellectual property (IP) sphere.”

Reklam Kurulu tarafından hazırlanan “Tüketici Değerlendirmeleri Hakkında Kılavuz” (“Kılavuz”) Reklam Kurulu’nun 12.09.2023 tarihli ve 337 sayılı toplantısında ilke kararı olarak kabul edildi ve yayımlandı. Kılavuzun amacı; tüketici değerlendirmeleri ile ilgili temel ilkeler, bilgilendirme, kontrol süreci, aldatıcı kabul edilen durumlar ile yükümlülüklere ilişkin reklam veren, reklam ajansları, mecra kuruluşları ve reklamcılıkla ilgili tüm kişi, kurum ve kuruluşlara yol göstermek olarak belirlenmiştir.

The Guideline on Consumer Reviews (“Guideline”), enacted by the Advertisement Board at the meeting dated 12.09.2023 and numbered 337, has recently been 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 commercial practices that are deemed misleading, and applicable responsibility and liability regime.

During 2022, the 11th Civil Chamber of the Turkish Court of Cassation (the CoC) issued several decisions regarding trade marks covering goods in class 5. The CoC formed its evaluation on the likelihood of confusion by comparing the subclasses of class 5. The details of the decisions are provided below:

İlk NFT, Dapper Labs şirketinin yöneticilerinden Dete Shirley tarafından ERC-721 standardına uygun surette, 20 Eylül 2017 tarihinde oluşturulmuş olup[1] bu günün NFT’lerin doğum günü olduğu söylenebilir. Bu nedenle de 20 Eylül, Uluslararası NFT günü olarak kabul edilip kutlanmaktadır.

September 20th is officially recognized as International NFT Day. On September 20th, 2017, the term NFT (non-fungible token) was officially coined by Dapper Labs Chief Technology Officer Dete Shirley in the form of the ERC-721 standard.[1] So, September 20th is the birthday of NFT.

Günümüzde çevre duyarlılığının giderek artmasının etkisiyle; reklam verenler, ürünlerini ve hizmetlerini çevre dostu olarak tanıtarak ve tüketiciler nezdinde çevreye fayda sağladıkları algısını oluşturarak çevresel beyanları sıkça kullanmaktadır. Ancak gerçeğe aykırı ve tüketicileri yanıltıcı olabilecek, onların çevreye duyarlılık duygularını istismar edebilecek, rakipler nezdinde haksızlığa sebep olabilecek nitelikte reklamların önlenebilmesi için; çevresel beyanların kullanımına ilişkin hukuki sınırların ayrıntılı olarak düzenlenmesi gerekmektedir.

Turkish law regulates environmental claims in advertising to prevent false and misleading claims. The Regulation on Commercial Advertisements and Unfair Commercial Practices and the Advertisement Board's Guideline for Environmental Claims in Advertising establish three principles for environmental claims: Advertisements must not abuse consumers' environmental sensitivity or potential lack of knowledge. Environmental signs in advertisements cannot be used in a deceptive manner. Environmental claims must be substantiated by scientific proof and technical demonstrations. Aspirational environmental benefit claims are subject to special scrutiny by the Advertisement Board. Advertisers can use aspirational environmental claims only if the claims are included in a publicly available and verifiable strategy plan.

The Council of State of Turkey has recently ruled that intervening parties can appeal decisions individually, even if the principal party does not file an appeal. This is on condition that the intervening party's appeal is not against, or is not contradicting, the principal party's explanations or intent. The decision is binding for the courts and will allow intervening parties to have a greater say in the outcome of cases.

Turkey is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters. However, Turkey has bilateral treaties with many countries for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. The basic requirements for recognition of a foreign judgment in Turkey are that the foreign court must have respected the right of defense of the party against which enforcement is sought, the judgment must be final under the laws of the foreign country, and the judgment must not violate Turkish public policy.

Turkey is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters. However, Turkey has bilateral treaties with many countries for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. The basic requirements for recognition of a foreign judgment in Turkey are that the foreign court must have respected the right of defense of the party against which enforcement is sought, the judgment must be final under the laws of the foreign country, and the judgment must not violate Turkish public policy.

The Turkish government has increased the euro exchange rate used to price medicinal products by 30.5%. The new exchange rate is TRY14.0387, up from TRY10.7577. The increase is effective from July 24, 2023.

Both the International Arbitration Code and Civil Procedural Code contain default procedural rules. However, the majority of these rules are not mandatory, and the parties are free to determine procedural rules in their arbitration agreement or after the arbitration begins. In practice, the parties often agree to apply institutional arbitration rules with their sets of default procedural rules.

In Turkey, arbitration traditionally evolved as a dispute resolution mechanism, which was used more frequently in large commercial disputes where a foreign party is involved and mostly when a legal counsel is involved in the preparation of the principal contract between the parties. For all other matters, particularly concerning disputes of smaller value, Turkish parties tended to grant jurisdiction to the Turkish courts.

The main and most commonly used method for resolving large commercial disputes in Turkey is litigation. Civil litigation is based on the principle that the parties to the dispute prepare their case. The judge is bound to hear claims, defences and evidence brought by the parties.

A party must disclose all evidence that it intends to rely on. A party is not required to disclose all relevant documents in its possession but must only provide documents that it deems appropriate. Parties must act in good faith and state the truth (Article 29, CPC).

Türkiye’de ruhsatlandırılmamış veya ruhsatlı olmakla birlikte piyasada bulunmayan ilaçlara hastaların ihtiyaç duyduğu durumlarda; söz konusu ilaç, hekimlerin talebi ve özel izinle yurt dışından tedarik edilebilmektedir. İlaçlar için öngörülen bu istisnai ithalat rejimi, yakın bir zamana kadar Türkiye İlaç ve Tıbbi Cihaz Kurumu (“TİTCK”) tarafından yayınlanmış olan Yurt Dışından İlaç Temini Kılavuzu ile düzenlenmekteydi. 3 Şubat 2023 tarihli 32093 sayılı Resmî Gazete’de Yurt Dışından İlaç Temin Yönetmeliği (“Yönetmelik”) yayınlanarak eski kılavuz yürürlükten kaldırılmıştır.

Ticaret siciline tescil edilen işlemlerden Ticaret Bakanlığı tarafından elektronik ortamda Hazine ve Maliye Bakanlığı’na (“Bakanlık”) yapılan bildirimlerin mükellefler tarafından yapılmış bildirim olarak kabul edilmesine ilişkin usul ve esasların belirlendiği, 546 Sıra No’lu Vergi Usul Kanunu Genel Tebliği (“Tebliğ”), 1 Şubat 2023 tarihinden itibaren yürürlüğe girmek üzere, 18 Ocak 2023 tarihli Resmi Gazete’de yayımlanmıştır.

When you watch the commercials, do you often feel like advertising companies are working hard to convince you that their products or services are “eco”, “environmentally friendly”, “nature friendly”, “green” and “recyclable”? Does environmentally-friendly feature of a product have any impact on your preference to purchase or use it? In fact, are we yet at the end of an era of advertising products that are not “green” enough but promoted to be “green”?

Son zamanlarda sık sık reklamlarda, tanıtımı yapılan ürünlerin veya hizmetlerin “eko”, “çevre dostu”, “doğa dostu” “yeşil” ve “geri dönüştürülebilir” olduğu konusunda reklam veren şirket tarafından ikna edilmeye mi çalışılıyorsunuz? Bir ürünün çevre dostu olması, ürünü satın alma ve kullanma tercihlerinizde etkili oluyor mu? Artık aslında yeterince “yeşil” olmayan ancak “yeşil” olduğu belirtilen ürünlere ilişkin reklamlara ayrılan sürenin sonuna mı geldik?

As a full-service law firm based in Istanbul providing transactional, advisory, and dispute management services to local and international companies throughout Turkey and assisting clients worldwide through its established network of correspondents and contacts Gün + Partners has introduced its new promo...

Gün + Partners, founded in 1986, has 13 partners and over 70 lawyers, providing transactional, advisory, and dispute management services to local and international companies throughout Turkey and assisting clients worldwide through its established network of correspondents and contacts.Gün + Partners is ...

Date - TimeThursday, Sep 28, 202317:00 - 18:00 (Local Time in Türkiye)Zoom Webinar ID - 873 1466 1408In the eighth of Gün + Partners' Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decision review webinars, the speakers will discuss the CJEU's "Nehera decision".The webinar will be open to general particip...

Date - TimeThursday, April 27, 20231:30 pm - 2:30 pm (GMT)4:30 pm - 5:30 pm (GMT+3, Istanbul)Gün + Partners will be celebrating the World IP Day with webinars.Please join us for a fireside chat between Mutlu Yıldırım Köse and our guests Prof. Özlem Er and Prof. Şebnem Timur.This webinar concentrates on w...

Date - TimeTuesday, April 25, 20231:00 pm - 2:00 pm (GMT)4:00 pm - 5:00 pm (GMT+3, Istanbul)Gün + Partners will celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with webinars.The webinar titled "Women and IP: Women Behind Life-Changing Innovations" will be held by Selin Sinem Erciyas, Partner of Gün + Partners,...

Date - TimeMonday, April 3, 2023, 16:00 - 18:00LocationGün + Partners / Kore Şehitleri Cad. 17 Zincirlikuyu 34394 Istanbul, TurkeyInternational Trademark Association (INTA) and Gün + Partners cordially invite you to attend our in-person Pre-Annual Meeting Reception in Istanbul.The 2023 International Trad...