In Turkey, the prosecution of criminal offenses in trademark law
depends on a proper complaint filed by the trademark owner. Once
the complaint and the evidence is submitted to the local
prosecutor's office, the file is brought before the local
Criminal Court. The Criminal Courts, however, become more and more
reluctant to issue the decisions recently. Hence, it is now more
important than ever for the trademark owners to be well-prepared
before filing the complaint, in terms of evidence gathering.
The preparation of the complaint starts with investigations, and
on-site investigations are particularly important to obtain the
very basic evidence, such as target's clear address, photos,
samples with receipt etc. These steps should be handled by trusted
investigators and the supervizion of legal professionals should be
sought at all times, as in Turkey, the activities of the private
investigators are not regulated by law.
