It was decided in the court between Fenerbahçe and beIN Group! Yellow-dark blue people will not be able to use the slogan “be FAIR”
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beIN Media Group company, FenerbahceOn the grounds that the slogans “We do not want to interfere with the regime and the director”, “be FAIR” and “Our request is fair and impartial publishing”, used by Turkey for the purpose of protest, they demanded a precautionary measure from the court to stop the actions, on the grounds that they create infringement and unfair competition. The decision came out of the court.
BeIN Media Group, which applied to the Istanbul Anatolian Court of Intellectual and Industrial Rights through its lawyers, stated that the brand beIN is a world-renowned media group in its petition for injunction. TurkeyHe reminded that he has the right to broadcast TFF Super League and 1st League competitions.
RAPPING THE BRAND AND UNJUSTICE COMPETITION
In the petition, Fenerbahçe in January and February, Ankaragücü, Sivas, Kayseri and Rize. Sport It was claimed that the visuals on the T-shirts on the football players and coaches before and after the match played with the players and the tracksuits worn by the players and the visuals appearing on the billboards on the side of the field were claimed to infringe the trademark rights of the beIN Group and lead to unfair competition.
LET THE INTERVENTION BE IMPLEMENTED
Stating that these actions took place in league matches in front of TV cameras, beIN Group claimed that there was an open attack on their reputation. In the petition, he urgently requested an interim injunction request from the court to stop Fenerbahçe’s infringement of the trademark rights and unfair competition.
In addition, it was stated that beIN Group’up has many registered trademarks starting with “beIN”, and before the Fenerbahçe-Trabzon match, it was urgently asked to decide on the file and without listening to Fenerbahçe.
THE BALANCE OF FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND COMMERCIAL REPUTATION HAS BEEN OBSERVED
The court stated that it was understood that Fenerbahçe Sports Club was engaged in a protest against the broadcaster, and demanded a broad measure to stop the acts infringing the beIN brand; He stated that Fenerbahçe’s actions can be evaluated within the scope of the freedom to express and disseminate the thoughts included in Article 26 of the Constitution, and that he decided according to the existing evidence and laws, taking into account the balance of freedom of thought on the one hand and the balance of commercial reputation on the other.
NO RAISE TO THE BRAND
In the decision, when the phrases “We do not want to interfere with the director and the director”, “be FAIR” and “Our request is fair and impartial broadcasting”, used on t-shirts and sweatpants worn to protest beIN and also on billboards, it is It was stated that the trademark was not considered to be infringement due to the fact that it does not function, does not cause commercial effect and its use is not branded.
NO REFLECTION
The court, which examined in terms of unfair competition, said that the slogans “We do not want to interfere with the regime and the director” and “Our request is fair and impartial publishing” do not resemble the registered trademarks belonging to beIN Group in terms of word structures and semantics, therefore, it does not create any confusion, by Fenerbahçe in the eyes of the public. He noted that these slogans used do not create any confusion, as registered trademarks belonging to beIN Group do not resemble both word structures and semantics.
The court ruled that the expressions and slogans “Our request is fair and impartial publishing” and “We do not want to interfere with the director and the regime” are within the scope of freedom of thought and decided to reject the request for interim injunction requested for these slogans.
MEASURE TO FENERBAHÇE
The court decided to accept Fenerbahçe’s request for interim injunction not to use the slogan “be FAIR”.
The court explained the reason for the decision as follows:
If the slogan “be FAIR” starts with “be” belonging to the trademarks of the company, the typefaces of the letters and words are the same, the registered trademarks belonging to the beIN Group are used in a similar way with the registered color and shape, and the word “beFAIR” means “be fair”, For this reason, it is a protest against the beIN Group, it may be similar to the beIN brands and may create a negative connotation in the eyes of the public, this possibility may damage the commercial reputation of the company and constitute a violation of the provisions of unfair competition, in terms of ensuring the effectiveness of the case, ” It has been decided to accept the request for interim injunction not to use the slogan “BE FAIR”.
(SPOKESMAN)
