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Expanding Тurkish Innovation into Europe: Secure Your Intellectual Property with Iusauthor Law Office.

 

Turkiye has established itself as a global powerhouse in innovation, consistently ranking among the leading countries in patent filings, trademarks, and industrial designs. As Turkish companies increasingly expand into the European market, protecting intellectual property (IP) rights is not just a legal formality—it is a strategic necessity for sustainable growth and competitive advantage.

Iusauthor Law Office, led by Attorney Feyzullah Yusein, provides specialized legal services in intellectual property law, supporting Turkish businesses in successfully entering, operating, and protecting their assets within the European Union and international markets. 

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Expanding Chinese Innovation into Europe: Secure Your Intellectual Property with Iusauthor Law Office.

 

China has established itself as a global powerhouse in innovation, consistently ranking among the leading countries in patent filings, trademarks, and industrial designs. As Chinese companies increasingly expand into the European market, protecting intellectual property (IP) rights is not just a legal formality—it is a strategic necessity for sustainable growth and competitive advantage.

Iusauthor Law Office, led by Attorney Atanas Kostov, provides specialized legal services in intellectual property law, supporting Chinese businesses in successfully entering, operating, and protecting their assets within the European Union and international markets. 

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Тrends in the Field of Arbitration Related to Crypto Assets.

 

1.Introduction.

In 2025, the global arbitration landscape is experiencing dynamic development, driven by the expanding use of cryptocurrencies, blockchain technologies, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). As a result, there is a growing need for specialized arbitrators and experts who understand not only the legal but also the technological nature of crypto assets—a fact that currently has no legal or technological debate in Bulgaria. While at the beginning of the decade disputes related to crypto assets were primarily addressed within court proceedings, today leading international crypto platforms—such as Binance, Bitcoin.com, OpenSea, and OurSong—are increasingly choosing arbitration as the preferred mechanism for resolving legal blockchain conflicts. The reason is evident: the flexibility, confidentiality, and technological adaptability of arbitration procedures by default. Crypto arbitrations in this context raise specific legal questions for the existing judicial practice, which also have technological implications, namely:

  • How to identify a party in the case of anonymous blockchain addresses?
  • How to determine the applicable law if the contract is executed automatically via smart code?
  • Can an arbitral tribunal order a technological change in the blockchain?
  • How to ensure enforcement of an award in cross-border transfers of crypto assets?

These challenges will be discussed in this article, while it is important to emphasize from the outset the need for a new type of arbitrators—with technological and financial expertise—who can analyze smart contract code, the logic of DeFi protocols, and the digital traces of transactions on the blockchain. The technological expertise of arbitrators will be a key factor in the 21st century, as they must have detailed knowledge of blockchain logic and the specifics of low-level processes (in the code) in crypto asset transactions to render an adequate arbitral award or timely interim measures.

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Procedure for obtaining a license for trading in crypto assets in Bulgaria from the Financial Supervision Commission. 

 

In connection with the entry into force of the latest amendments to the Public Offering of Securities Act (Public Offering of Securities Act ) , which implement the provisions of Regulation (EC) 2023/1114 [1] on crypto-asset markets, the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) is conducting a preliminary investigation into the activities carried out by the persons entered in the register under § 5, para. 3 of the Public Offering of Securities Act.

The aim of the ongoing study by the Financial Control Commission (FSC) is to outline the circle of persons to whom the licensing regime will apply and to specify their development plans. The aforementioned campaign will provide a clear basis for the implementation of the licensing regime, to ensure predictability and transparency in the process, as well as sustainable development of the financial and crypto services market.

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Preparation of copyright and business documentation for filming in Bulgaria. Protection of copyrights concerning films.

 

 

"IUSAUTOR" as a law office and in particular attorney Atanas Kostov have a long professional history, related to the copyright and business processes that concern the creation of a film - be it a documentary, a feature or a television series. Mr. Kostov as an attorney at law has also participated as a procedural defender in numerous cases that concerned disputes in the court over film copyright in Bulgaria.

 

On the topic "IUSAUTOR" can offer you the following legal services:

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Intellectual property in nano computer technologies.

 

1. Introduction.

For nearly 20 years, as a lawyer working in the field of intellectual property, I have been observing the development of computer programs in various fields, while at the same time naturally following the global leap in computer hardware, since it logically corresponds, as a technological level, to the development of the specific stage of programming - these activities go hand in hand, so to speak.

Over the past 10 years, my attention has turned to the so-called "quantum computers" and their predecessors - "supercomputers", the intersection between them being that they can be generally defined as powerful machines used to perform complex calculations, solve problems and analyze data. It is important to note here that there are significant differences between these technologies in terms of software and hardware.

Supercomputers use a traditional, familiar computing approach with multiple processors to rapidly process large amounts of data and produce a single result. These computers are the fastest in terms of raw computing power, but they can only handle one task at a time and their processing capabilities are limited by Moore's Law [1] .

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Why a legal opinion for your blockchain project it is extremely important?

 

 

1.Introduction.

A legal opinion concerning WEB3 projects is a legal tool that allows developers, investors and blockchain executives to obtain a qualified third-party opinion on the subject matter, object, financial and technological substance, as well as the legal specifics of the creation of a particular blockchain project. This opinion is a professional, legal document prepared by a competent legal professional on each specific issue or problem subject to the commissioned study.

Prior to marketing any particular blockchain project, the parties should carefully consider the nature and extent of its financial and technological substance, as well as the legal issues related thereto, in order that this analysis will serve to guarantee the rights of each participant in such investment.

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What taxes do we pay on crypto asset transactions in Bulgaria?

 

In my practice as a blockchain lawyer, issues often arise that are more practical than technological in nature and require knowledge of various areas of civil, tax and criminal law. One of these questions is what taxes do we pay on crypto asset transactions? Here we need to make the natural distinction between crypto transactions carried out by individuals and crypto transactions involving legal entities.

 

1. Taxes payable on crypto asset transactions by natural persons.

The topic is regulated in the Law on Personal Income Taxes. In Article 33, paragraph 4 of the Income Tax Act it is written as follows: 

1.1. The taxable income from the sale or exchange of shares, units, compensatory instruments, investment vouchers and other financial assets, including virtual currencies, as well as from foreign currency trading is determined as the sum of the profits realized during the year, determined for each specific transaction ,  reduced by the amount of losses realized during the year , determined for each specific transaction, is reduced by 10 percent of costs.

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Common mistakes made in registration process of trademarks in Bulgaria.

 

 

I. Introduction.

In my practice as an intellectual property attorney in Bulgaria, for the last 20 years I have tried to convince many of my clients (individuals and owners of legal entities) that applying for a trademark requires knowledge in detail of a matter that is strictly professional and related to experience, knowledge - and even aesthetics, factors belonging to the sphere of business, law, marketing and art (if you wish). This article is not scientific in nature, but it aims to give you a vision of what not to do and what is useful to do when registering your trademark.

 

II. Here are the main key points :

1. Do not claim your trademark by yourself. It is true that both the Bulgarian Patent Office and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Alicante, Spain, offers two very functional sites through which (supposedly at first glance) you can "do the work yourself". This is an illusion. Using a site without problems does not mean that you have chosen the right kind of trademark tо apply (marks can be word, figurative  three-dimensional, sound, etc.), does not mean that you have correctly chosen the goods and services to claim and does not mean that doing so will not give rise to various types of legal problems (eg refusal on absolute grounds and opposition due to a similar or identical earlier trademark) which will result in the loss of the fee paid as well as the loss of the trademark itself. Why this is true I will explain in detail in my presentation. 

1.1. Most applicants who decide to file a trademark on their own, "because it's easy", decide that they will file a word trademark. To the question "why did you do this", the answer in 99% of cases is "because I didn't feel like making a logo"! The bad news is that since 2010 So far, word trademarks are the weakest legally, since they do not have the so-called "visual distinctiveness", i.e. precisely because they do not have a logo, the user does not perceive them visually. 

1.2. Visual distinctiveness is especially important when the do-it-yourselfer has applied for a descriptive trademark. What is this? You can't trademark a bread maker and make it sound like "The most delicious bread" or "Your bread." Why? Because every bread is delicious and every bread belongs to someone. The Trademarks and Geographical Indications Act expressly prohibits such descriptive trademarks and the Bulgarian Patent Office or EUIPO (if the trademark is European) refuses you the trademark on the so-called "absolute grounds for refusal" because the trademark is descriptive under Art. 11, para. 4 of ZMGO. If the mark is descriptive - for example "The Shop near you", but its logo has led to so-called "acquired distinctiveness" and the applicant can prove it, the motive for descriptiveness in the examination of absolute grounds can be overcome. This can of course only be done by a professional in the field of intellectual property, i.e. obviously "you cannot handle this difficult legal problem alone".

 

2. The trademark must always have a logo!

What has been said so far leads us to the conclusion that the trademark must always have a logo, i.e. it must be a so-called "figurative trademark". Figurative marks are those that represent an image, i.e. they are a combination of the word element  - for example "Coca Cola" and the way in which that word element looks figuratively. As I have already explained, visual distinctiveness is very important. In the past (before 2010) black and white tardemarks covered all the colors of the rainbow as protection, but today you can only claim specific colors that are the subject of the logo - they do not cover all other colors and combinations. No. Only cover the specific colors requested. For example, if the trademark "Coca Cola" (see fig. 1) is claimed in red and white, these are the protected colors.  You then can't use it in orange and green because you end up with the problem of "the applicant is not using his mark as he registered it" and that's grounds for cancellation of the mark because it leads to consumer confusion "which is the brand" - figuratively.

 

fig.1 

 

There are also so-called "three-dimensional trademarks" - they are also images, but three-dimensional ones, as an example I can give the bottle of "Coca Cola". As an interesting detail, I can also mention that three-dimensional trademarks and industrial designs are actually one and the same thing, as depending on whether the novelty of a design is impaired or not, the registration of a three-dimensional trademark or design is resorted to. These are details that I have explained in an explicit article on the subject and I will not dwell on them here, but you can find it on the pages of our site.

 

3. Should the brand be abstract or should it mean something?

Most trademarks in the 21st century are abstract - Mozilla, Amazon, Google, Yahoo, Coca Cola, YamamaY, etc., they mean nothing and consist of 5 to 6 letters (characters). Why? As you already understood, this avoids the problem of descriptiveness, creating the necessary interest - figuratively and meaningfully - in the brand. I will give an example of one of the most famous brands of women's underwear so that I can be understood correctly.

 

fig.2  

 

I really like to give an example with the trademark "YamamaY" (see fig. 2) for the "abstractness" criterion. If you look at the image you will see that a careful analysis of the arrangement of the syllables leads to the conclusion that inside-out and outside-in are mirror images. The brand has a center and it is the letter "a". Also, the trademark has the word "mom" in it, because every cool chick in underwear, after a lot of "wow" or "ay, ay"... at some point becomes "mom" - clever, right? Do you understand how many layers there are in this brand - mirroring, sex, motherhood, femininity? Still thinking you can do "this easy job yourself"? Also, the brand is red. In the first year of law, professor Daniel Valchev once taught us that red as a color is a sign that "there are prostitutes" (a symbol from Roman times), and therefore, red is the color for attention at traffic lights, emergency, obviously in today's time - at trademarks. This color is naturally associated with roses and femininity. Because of this, some of the top trademarks in fashion and industry contain it.

On the other hand, I can say that even abstract trademarks can be woven into some meaning. Back in the day, my mother had a company called "ERKOER", which is a combination of the first syllables of her and my surname: Erendzhikova , Kostov , Erendzhikova , and the clever approach to these initial syllables leads to the mentioned "ERKOER". This is also a correct approach, albeit very simplistic semantically.

 

4. The "trademark plus company name, plus domain" rule.

Always follow this rule in the 21st century. I will explain in detail why again with an example. The company "Dir.bg" JSC owns the trademark "Dir.bg" and obviously the domain Dir.bg (see fig.3). The Bulgaria commercial law act in its art. 7, para. 5 says that a company name cannot be identical or similar to a protected trade mark unless the trader has rights to it. This means that the earlier trademark can attack the later identical or similar company name, requesting its deletion from the trade register in favor of the real owner of the brand. The Law on Trademarks and Geographical Indications says the same thing, that the earlier company name can be grounds for invalidation of the later applied  trademark in favor of the real owner of the earlier company name - argument from Art. 36, Paragraph 3, Item 2, letter "b" of the ZMGO, as the earlier company name is also an earlier unregistered word trademark in the context of Art. 12, paragraph 4 of the ZMGO.

 

fig.3 

 

Last but not least, the General Terms and Conditions of "Register.bg" EOOD - the company that administers the sale of national first-level domains, establish the rule that the earlier trademark, respectively the earlier company name, can become grounds for revocation of already registered domain - argument from Article 11.4.1 of the General Terms and Conditions of "Register.bg" EOOD.

This detailed reasoning is the reason for the rule "trademark plus company, plus domain", because one can always override the other if it's earlier. I explain all this in such detail to convince you that if you properly structure your business and your intellectual property from the beginning, you will protect yourself from strange, very unexpected and sometimes quite unpleasant legal, bona fide or not effects aimed at this "thing of yours" - company name, trademark or domain, be taken away from you. Applying the said rule immediately and in time will virtually cut off any such possibility.

The details of trademark registration can be numerous and involve various marketing, business, legal and technical complications that ultimately lead to the loss of the trademark applied for. However, if you follow these few simple rules in applying for a trademark, this process can turn out to be successful, of course, if you use the services of the right professional.

 

Author: Mr. Atanas Kostov - attorney at law

 

 

More details on the topic "registration and proper marketing, business and technical construction of a trademark" can be obtained here: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

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How do I participate in a public procurement procedure in Bulgaria?

 

1. General provisions.

The Public Procurement Act is tasked with creating legal guarantees for the development of free and fair competition, i.e. to  provide an opportunity  for  all legal entities to participate in the procedures  and for the competition between them to take place on the basis of objective market criteria.

The contracting authority makes a decision to open a procedure for awarding a public order according to its needs, which this order should satisfy in compliance with the principles and conditions laid down in the PPA. For this purpose, the Law grants  the right to every business entity  as  an interested party  to participate  in procurement procedures, according to its financial, technical and resource capacity. This collaboration of available opportunities of business entities should be relevant to the requirements set by the contracting authority.

 

2. "Interested person" in the sense of the ZOP .

In §2, item 14 of the DR of the ZOP, a definition of the term "Interested person" is given: "any person who  has or had an interest in receiving a certain public contract and who  has been or may be harmed  by the alleged violation". The essence of this concept is especially important in cases of contesting the contracting party's act, in accordance with the provision of Article 198, item 1 of the Civil Code. In these cases, each "interested person" must state the circumstances in his complaint ,  on which he  bases his status as an  interested party, as well as applies to it evidence of the stated  circumstances   .  § 2, item 14  of the DR of  ZOP ,  do not have a legal interest  in appeal.