Cihan Turan, a Turkish citizen, patented Apex Legends in Turkey and faced EA.
Today, we received very interesting information via an e-mail. The e-mail was from someone named Cihan Turan via Gmail. According to his claim, he had registered the patent of Apex Legends, one of EA’s most important productions, in Turkey. He added some images of approval given by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.
EA has not patented the Apex Legends brand in Turkey
In the e-mail, it is stated that the registration process was applied on August 8, 2022, and the approval was received on October 12, 2022. Realizing the situation a month after the patent was approved, EA contacted Cihan Turan through the lawyers of the company to waive patent right. However, the company says they can compromise on this issue. But, Turan wants to use this name in his own projects. (According to email)
Although these are generally the only ones written in the eMail, we also carried out an inquiry through the institution in order to question the accuracy of the information. The results we saw showed that the information given was correct.
After the registration process is completed, an objection can be made within three months (according to a statement from the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, a two-month period is required after 2017. Therefore, we cannot be sure how long the objection should be made). But, an objection made the day before the deadline is also posted on the institution’s website. Although the identity has not been revealed, we think that an objection may have been made by EA.
Similar attempts have been made for games before. Two different applications for the God of War brand were later revoked by the patent institution and the rights were transferred to Sony.
We do not know if there will be a result from this issue, but Cihan Turan states that he will follow up on this issue and says that he has reached an agreement with one of Turkey’s important law firms. It is too early to comment at this point. But we will follow the process.
Apex Legends is one of the most played games in the world. In April 2021, EA’s CFO Blake Jorgensen made a statement stating that the game’s revenues exceeded $1 billion. The game has a lot of followers in Turkey as well.