NEWSLETTER-2020-metin

375 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW Duration of License Agreement It is accepted that the duration of the license agreement may be freely determined by the parties in accordance with the freedom of agreement. In the doctrine, it is argued that if the license agreement is concluded for an indefinite period of time, the upper limit of the agreement is the 10-year protection period of the trademark, which is calculated from the application of it 2 . However, there are also views that the duration of the license agreement is not limited to the duration of the trademark right, on the basis that the trademark protection may be renewed 3 . Payment of a Fee In practice, trademark license agreements appear as contracts that impose obligations on both sides. Namely, with the trademark license agreement, the licensor owes the right to use the trademark to the li- censee, while the licensee generally owes a fee in return. However, there are also trademark license agreements in which the licensee does not make a commitment to pay a fee. Such trademark license agree- ments are also called free licenses. Form and Registration of License Agreement Article 148/4 of the IPC regulates written forms of license agree- ments as validity conditions by saying that “ Legal actions shall be subject to written form .” In this context, execution of license agree- ments in the presence of a notary public provides convenience for evi- dence, but does not constitute an obligation. It is sufficient for license agreements to be in writing to be valid. In addition, Article 148/5 of the IPC regulates that “ Legal ac- tions are registered and published in the Bulletin upon the request of one of the parties, payment of the fees and the fulfilment of the other conditions specified in the regulation .” Accordingly, license agree- ments may be registered. However, registering license agreements is 2 Çağlar, Hayrettin : Marka Hukuku Temel Esaslar, Ankara 2013, p.102. 3 Arkan, Sabih : Marka Hukuku, Ankara 1998, p. 197.