The WTR 1000 focuses exclusively on trademark practice and has firmly established itself as the definitive 'go-to' resource for those seeking world-class legal trademark expertise.
Gold - Firms: prosecution and strategy
Gold - Firms: enforcement and litigation
Full-service IP powerhouse Moroğlu Arseven is the “go-to firm in Turkey” for comprehensive brand protection. “The well-established firm is home to excellent lawyers, who are highly responsive and take a practical, commercially minded approach to resolving trademark disputes in a timely and cost-efficient manner.” Driving the IP practice forward are talented trio Işık Özdoğan, Gökçe İzgi and Ezgi Baklacı Gülkokar, who team up to provide a holistic trademark service. Department head Özdoğan, “an excellent lawyer with a great command of local intellectual property laws and regulations”, earns praise alongside İzgi for being “dedicated attorneys who directly and efficiently address issues through innovative solutions, to the great satisfaction of patrons. Gülkokar is also warmly recommended for her “flexibility, diligence and clear, exhaustive reports”.
Moroğlu Arseven has wide-ranging experience in all fields of trademark-related advice, including counselling, enforcement, transactional and litigation matters, as well as strategic cross-border management of portfolios and disputes.
High-profile international brands and trademarks regularly engage Moroğlu Arseven, based on its reputation for delivering results, as well as effectively establishing, strengthening, enforcing and commercialising trademarks in Turkey. As a result, the firm serves many longstanding, high-profile multinational clients in relation to a full range of trademark issues and strategies.
Moroğlu Arseven is a full-service firm with more than 55 lawyers, boasting one of the largest dedicated IP practices in Turkey in such a format. The firm integrates trademark advice into corporate counselling matters in complex issues involving regulatory, corporate and commercial aspects, as well as vice versa. This crossover allows end-to-end support with planning and executing trademark transactions. Such support usually involves developing strategies, making risk assessments and providing negotiation support for transferring or licensing trademark rights, often with parties based in different jurisdictions.
Led by Işık Özdoğan, the firm’s three dedicated IP partners have worked together for almost a decade. Their work ethic, close communication with clients and experience handling cutting-edge cases distinguish them from other IP professionals in Turkey. They frequently receive awards for their respective work from organisations including World Trademark Review, Managing Intellectual Property, IAM, The Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.
Clients appreciate the firm’s responsive, clear and concise answers to legal questions, as well as its knowledge of their business goals, often based on long-lasting relationships. The firm’s lawyers have a reputation for being honest with clients about their strategic interests, even where this means not moving forward with legal action if a positive result is unlikely, or the action does not support the client’s broader strategies.
The firm manages trademark portfolios for a number of high-profile brands where intellectual property is central to their commercial decision making. The firm’s advice and risk assessments have been integral to guiding clients’ commercial operations and decisions about whether (and how) to launch new product lines in Turkey. Several successful market clean-ups have opened the door for clients to launch their Turkish businesses when previously they could not.
Moroğlu Arseven’s international experience and expertise in foreign requirements are valuable to clients. These skills allow the firm’s lawyers to address client concerns quickly and cost-effectively, advising on how local requirements will sit within global IP portfolios and strategies. The firm is regularly engaged in complex negotiations, often including multiple parties and viewpoints. Moroğlu Arseven’s lawyers advise across a range of industries, negotiating settlements, assignments, coexistence agreements and licences for trademark rights.
Customised anti-counterfeiting and market clean-up projects are a speciality of the firm. Leading brands often engage Moroğlu Arseven to deal with commercially sensitive or high-risk issues in Turkey – a notoriously tricky jurisdiction for trademark infringement. Moroğlu Arseven’s clients have witnessed measurable improvements following such programmes, which include:
- working with investigators to identify infringers and supply chains;
- initiating criminal proceedings, allowing clients to conduct raids and seize goods;
- conducting raids and seizures, including high volumes or multi-brand infringement;
- negotiating with infringers to receive compensation for clients;
- educating customs officials about trademarks and brands; and
- filing civil lawsuits for clients that wish to pursue legal action against counterfeiters.
Moroğlu Arseven has an unrivalled reputation as a thought leader for Turkish trademark matters. The firm’s lawyers regularly write articles and provide insight on trademark law, as well as related topics where trademark law overlaps with other legal areas (eg, regulated industry sectors, unfair competition, trade dress and internet issues).
Senior members of the IP team are active members in a range of global and local organisations which focus on trademark issues, including:
- INTA;
- MARQUES;
- the Pharmaceutical Trademarks Group;
- the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys;
- the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property;
- ECTA;
- the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office; and
- the Licensing Executives Society International.
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