Mr Okan Can > Deris Attorneys at Law Partnership > Istanbul, Turkey > Lawyer Profile

Mr Okan Can

+90 212 292 6000 okan.can@deris.com View profile

Position

Senior Partner

Career

Okan Çan represents market-leading companies in the protection and enforcement of IP rights. His expertise extends to IP litigation, IP strategy, transactional intellectual property, technology licensing, data privacy and publicity rights.

Mr. Çan has achieved notable results in IP disputes. He has represented:

• leading pharma firms in several IP litigations; he is currently leading the Turkish part of the multi-jurisdictional DNA gene sequencing patent dispute between Illumina vs BGI Group.
• a leading technology market player in an extensive project for licensing its standard-essential patents;
• a multinational firm in complex multi-jurisdictional IP litigation, achieving one of the highest compensation awards for an IP conflict in Turkey;
• a multinational tobacco firm during the acquisition of the IP assets of the Turkish state monopoly; and

By invitation of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, in 2016 Mr. Çan participated in and actively worked with the commission established for the preparation of the new Turkish IP Code, which entered into force on 10 January 2017 before the code was enacted.

He chaired a sub-committee of INTA’s Anti-Counterfeiting Committee between 2020 – 2022.

Mr. Çan frequently speaks at IP conferences on, among other topics:

IP, privacy and internet issues in Turkey at Stanford University, Palo Alto in 2015;

Highlights of the Year 2015 and the INTA Roundtable in 2016;

the new IP Code at a conference held by the Turkish Ministry of Customs and the European Union in 2017; and

resolving IP disputes through the WIPO alternative dispute resolution, on behalf of WIPO, at an international conference in Istanbul in 2017.

His publications include:

“Anticipated Changes Pave Way to New Environment”, IAM Yearbook 2017 (co-author);

“Major Changes to the Trademark Law 2017” (IPKat blog); and

“New Practice: Mediation in Trademark Oppositions”, International Law Office.

Mr. Çan is listed in IAM Patent 1000, IP Stars, The Legal 500, Chamber and Partners, He is one of the few experts recognized in the IAM and WTR Global Leaders list in since 2020.   He has been listed by IAM and WTR 1000 2016-2022 in the gold tier for litigation and enforcement.

Okan Can has recently been selected to the INTA Board as a member as the first Turkish member. Okan Can has been nominated to be the first member from Turkey at the Global Intellectual Property Alliance (GLIPA) as transformation of USIPA. (https://www.usipalliance.org/about). He was also awarded as the IP Litigator of the Year in Life Sciences Biotech throughout Europe and Middle East in 2022 by LMG.

Languages

English

Memberships

• AIPPI
• INTA Board Member, Member of the Right of Publicity Committee
• USIPA Board Member
• Istanbul Bar Association
• Member of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI)
• Member of the Turkish National Group of AIPPI
• Member of the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office (EPI)

Education

Istanbul University, Faculty of Law, LLB