Practice area
Technical Opinions and Expert Reports
In patent, utility model and design disputes, the outcome usually turns on technical examination. We prepare reasoned expert opinions for parties and their counsel, before or during proceedings, written by a mechanical engineer who is also a registered patent attorney, so the technical analysis and the legal framework meet in a single, coherent document.
What is a party expert opinion?
Article 293 of the Turkish Code of Civil Procedure allows parties to obtain a scientific opinion from an expert on the subject of the dispute and submit it to the court. The court may hear the expert who prepared it.
Party expert opinions are used to substantiate technical objections to the report of the court-appointed expert, to assess the position before proceedings, and in settlement negotiations.
Engineering and law in one opinion
Technical disputes are usually won or lost on details: how a claim feature should be read, whether a component performs the same function in substantially the same way, or what a skilled engineer would have considered obvious at the priority date. These are engineering questions framed by law.
Because the opinion is prepared by a mechanical engineer who is also a trademark and patent attorney, both sides of each question are answered together: the analysis is technically precise and structured around the tests Turkish courts actually apply. For matters in other technical fields, a panel is formed with experts experienced in the relevant sector.
Areas of work
Infringement analysis
Breaking claims down into features and comparing them feature by feature with the accused product or process, including equivalence (Art. 89/5).
Validity and invalidity analysis
Assessment of novelty and inventive step against the prior art.
Responses to court expert reports
Identifying the methodology, grounds and gaps of a report as a technical basis for requesting a supplementary report or a new expert panel.
Freedom-to-operate
Risk assessment against patents and utility models in force in Türkiye before product launch.
Design similarity
Comparison based on the informed user, overall impression and the designer's degree of freedom.
Technical comparison
Engineering review of technical drawings, product samples and manufacturing methods.
Method
Initial discussion and conflict check
The parties and subject are identified. No opinion is prepared for the opposing side in a matter where we support a party; no opinion is prepared for any party in a matter where we serve as court-appointed expert.
Review of documents and samples
Patent documents, claims, drawings, product samples and reports on the court file.
Analysis
Claim features are separated, comparison charts prepared and prior art searched where needed.
Reasoned report
Findings and their grounds are set out clearly enough for the court and the other side to verify.
Explanation
Where the court hears the expert, the opinion is explained orally.
Court-appointed expert experience
Serving as a court-appointed expert shows from the inside how technical reports are read in proceedings, which points are scrutinised, and which unanswered questions lead to objections.
We prepare opinions with that experience. The aim is not to support a position at any cost, but to set out the technical reality in a clear, reasoned and verifiable way. That is also what gives an opinion weight before the court.
Frequently asked questions
How does a party expert opinion differ from a court expert report?
The court-appointed expert is appointed by and answers to the court. A party expert opinion is obtained by a party and submitted as evidence; the court weighs it freely together with the other evidence.
When should we commission an opinion?
Ideally before proceedings or before the court expert's examination. Time limits for objecting to a court expert report are short, so contact us as soon as the report is served.
Which technical fields do you cover?
Alongside mechanical engineering matters, opinions in other technical fields are prepared jointly by a panel formed with experts experienced in the relevant sectors.
Would you like to discuss a matter?
Tell us briefly about your case; we will set out the steps, deadlines and risks in writing.