Court rejects Turkish footballer’s attempt to ban Samsung’s S8 mobile phone

ISTANBUL

A Turkish court has rejected Turkish footballer Selçuk İnan’s demand to ban technology giant Samsung’s S8 mobile phone, ruling that no individual can claim the patent for any letter or number or combination of the two.

Turkish Super League leader Galatasaray’s midfielder Selçuk İnan had sued Samsung for using his registered logo “S8” as the brand name for its latest handset.

The Turkish international footballer had demanded 110,000 Turkish Liras, roughly $29,000, in compensation from the South Korean conglomerate.

İnan registered his logo “S8” at the Turkish Copyright Institute (TPE) four years ago, acting in the same vein as Cristiano Ronaldo, who owns the rights for the logo “QR7,” or Ricardo Quaresma, who owns “Q7.”

The Istanbul Intellectual Property Rights Court rejected İnan’s demands to remove the mobile phone from the market place, stating that Samsung registered its “S8” brand back in 2010.

“Words and numbers cannot be owned. When the brand is analyzed as a whole, the product’s determining element is Samsung’s well-known ‘Galaxy’ brand,” the order stated.

Samsung unveiled its Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy S8+ and Samsung Galaxy S8 Active on March 2017 to succeed the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge.