Turkey;
The Constitutional Court recently handed down an important decision regarding freedom of speech and unfair competition claims following the use of a company's trademark in an online domain name. The decision was published in the Official Gazette on 20 March 2019.
Facts
The applicant set up the domain name 'www.Xkargomagdurlari.com' ('www.victimsofthecouriercompanyX.com') with the aim of collecting criticism of a specific courier company by former employees who believed that their employment contracts had been unfairly terminated.
The courier company sued the applicant on the grounds that the use of their trademark in the domain name in a negative way had damaged their commercial reputation. Further, the company requested that the damaging comments be deleted from the website and access thereto be restricted.
The Fourth Civil IP Court of Istanbul (IP Court) concluded that the applicant's action constituted unfair competition under Article 55 of the Commercial Code and decided to restrict access to the website. This decision was upheld by the Supreme Court. As a result, the applicant applied to the Constitutional Court on the grounds of the violation of fundamental human rights (ie, equality before the law, freedom of communication, freedom of thought and freedom of speech).
read more ( lexology )
The Constitutional Court recently handed down an important decision regarding freedom of speech and unfair competition claims following the use of a company's trademark in an online domain name. The decision was published in the Official Gazette on 20 March 2019.
Facts
The applicant set up the domain name 'www.Xkargomagdurlari.com' ('www.victimsofthecouriercompanyX.com') with the aim of collecting criticism of a specific courier company by former employees who believed that their employment contracts had been unfairly terminated.
The courier company sued the applicant on the grounds that the use of their trademark in the domain name in a negative way had damaged their commercial reputation. Further, the company requested that the damaging comments be deleted from the website and access thereto be restricted.
The Fourth Civil IP Court of Istanbul (IP Court) concluded that the applicant's action constituted unfair competition under Article 55 of the Commercial Code and decided to restrict access to the website. This decision was upheld by the Supreme Court. As a result, the applicant applied to the Constitutional Court on the grounds of the violation of fundamental human rights (ie, equality before the law, freedom of communication, freedom of thought and freedom of speech).
read more ( lexology )
