In the fight against counterfeiting, not one-off but systematic protection.
An integrated programme against counterfeit goods and trademark infringement: customs detention, platform complaints, preservation of evidence, preliminary injunctions and damages actions.
Counterfeiting is not a lawsuit but a flow problem
Counterfeit goods do not come from a single point: production, import, warehousing, marketplace listings and social-media sales form a flow. Taking down a single listing does not stop the flow. Effective enforcement is a systematic construct that starts from the registration infrastructure of the rights and uses customs, platform and judicial tools within the same programme — and its cost is small compared with lost revenue and brand value.
Toolkit
Registration infrastructure
Trademark/design registrations in Türkiye and the target markets (including the EU) — an unregistered right locks out most of the tools.
Customs
Ex officio detention of suspect shipments through customs recordal applications in Türkiye and the EU; time-limited objection and destruction procedures.
Platforms
marketplace complaint mechanisms and — in the EU — the notice-and-action regime of the DSA; account sanctions for repeat infringers.
Litigation
preservation of evidence, preliminary injunction, criminal complaint (raid and seizure) and damages action.
On the ground
rapid response at trade fairs — through the protective-letter and injunction practice of our Trade Fair Law focus.
Evidence and prioritisation
The heart of the programme is evidentiary discipline: records of listings via notary / e-determination, test purchases, serial-number analysis and supply-chain mapping. Not every infringer is sued; prioritisation is set by volume and recurrence — litigation for the large flows, platform action and cease-and-desist letters for the small ones. This triage steers the budget towards the cases that produce results. The protection strategy across e-commerce channels is built together with our marketplace compliance service.
The statutory anchors
In Türkiye the toolkit rests on the Industrial Property Law (No. 6769): the acts that count as infringement and the criminal sanction for trade mark infringement (Articles 29–30) work alongside the preservation of evidence and claims for damages. On the customs side, the intellectual property measures in the Customs Law (No. 4458) and, on the EU side, applications under Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 are what allow goods to be detained at the border on the authorities’ own initiative. Where the packaging or the content is copied, the copyright layer under the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (FSEK, No. 5846) comes into play, and for elements left unregistered the unfair competition provisions are the last line of defence. Which tool to reach for is a strategic decision: within the same case, the order in which the criminal, civil and administrative routes are used is set by how mature the evidence already is.
Measurement, and who this is for
Two measurements are taken at the outset: what the counterfeits are doing to turnover — price pressure, channels lost — and a map of where the flow originates. Those two figures decide which tool the budget goes to; a programme that starts without them turns into chasing listings.
Typical users: consumer brands whose recognition is growing, manufacturers of spare parts and accessories, and groups selling licensed products. Contested matters are run with our litigation team, while the preservation of evidence and the records of test purchases run on our digital evidence infrastructure.
We are by your side for Anti-Counterfeiting
We map your trademark portfolio and sales channels and build a 12-month enforcement plan: customs recordals, platform accounts, a monitoring regime and litigation strategy. The Germany and EU leg is run by our Germany Desk; the intellectual-property infrastructure is reinforced with our IP team. The goal is not a single victory but making counterfeiting commercially pointless.
Other Applications of This Service
Litigation — our other specialised solutions in this area.
Matter Connections
The focus areas, practice areas, desks and legislation connected with this sub-service.
Our Matters in This Service
The anonymised examples of our work that relate to this service.
Representation of a Turkish manufacturer in ICC arbitration
Strategy, case management and representation in a dispute arising from a cross-border supply contract.
Review the matter →Dispute · LitigationDebt recovery in a CMR carriage dispute
Managing the litigation and enforcement process in a compensation dispute arising from cross-border carriage.
Review the matter →Dispute · ReinstatementDefence management of a collective reinstatement dispute
Managing the serial reinstatement claims filed after a restructuring with a single defence strategy and a consistent evidence set.
Review the matter →The Team Delivering This Service
With our multilingual team of lawyers, well-versed in Turkish and German law, we are by your side.
Mehmet Köksal
Founder and Managing PartnerIstanbul · Berlin · KyreniaProfile →
Kübra Köksal-Yılmaz
PartnerBerlin · İstanbulProfile →
Herdem Belen
Of CounselİstanbulProfile →
Sven Köksal
Legal EngineerBerlin · İstanbulProfile →
Batuhan Halim
Of CounselKyreniaProfile →Related Publications
Fresh perspectives and guides from the Knowledge Centre.
You should move from one-off complaints to a repeat-infringer strategy: seller-based tracking, requests for account sanctions from the platform, and court action against the major sellers. With a monitoring subscription, new listings are caught early.
Most programmes use both together: a criminal complaint cuts off the flow through raids and seizure, while a civil action produces damages and a permanent injunction. The sequencing is built around the state of the evidence.
It is possible with limited tools (unfair competition), but weak. The first step is a registration strategy; a swift application should be filed while preserving your evidence of prior use.
After the rightholder recordal, customs stops a suspicious shipment and notifies you; within the time limit, the litigation/interim-measures route is pursued or the simplified destruction procedure is applied. The recordal sets up an automatic radar at the border.
Anti-Counterfeiting — get the right legal support.
Let us identify the right solution together, drawing on our experience in Türkiye and the DACH region.