By visiting and/or using the website owned by ARÇELİK A.Ş. (“BEKO”) available at https://www.bekocorporate.com/technology/technology-transfer-and-cooperation-request-form/ (the “Platform”), you, as the visitor and/or user (the “Participant”), hereby expressly declare and undertake that you have read and reviewed all of the terms and conditions set forth below in their entirety, that you have fully understood their content, that you have unconditionally accepted and approved all such terms and conditions without any reservation, and that you shall not raise any objection, defense or claim in this respect. Any updates to these Terms and Conditions shall be made by authorized representatives of ARÇELİK and shall become effective upon publication on the Platform.
DEFINITIONS
Terms of Use
Affiliate means any company over which “control” is exercised directly or indirectly through ownership of more than fifty percent (50%) of the share capital or voting rights, and/or any company that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with one of the Parties to this Agreement.
Participant means any natural or legal person who fully completes the application form available at https://www.bekocorporate.com/technology/technology-transfer-and-cooperation-request-form/ and who wishes to cooperate with ARÇELİK in relation to its mature technology/product and submits the application content to ARÇELİK for its discretion.
Technology Transfer and Cooperation Platform means the platform provided at https://www.bekocorporate.com/technology/technology-transfer-and-cooperation-request-form/ which enables Participants to submit mature technology transfer and cooperation requests (the “Platform”).
Technology Transfer and Cooperation Form means the online application form through which technology transfer and cooperation requests are submitted within the scope of the Beko Collaboration Platform (the “Form”).
Application means all information, documents, materials and other content shared by Participants through the Technology Transfer and Cooperation Form for Beko’s discretion.
Application Content means, except in exceptional circumstances, outputs relating to mature technologies or products that are subject to intellectual and industrial property rights, whether accrued, registered and/or applied for.
1. PURPOSE AND SCOPE
1.1. Beko provides access to the Beko Technology Transfer and Cooperation Platform Application Form within the framework of these Terms of Use.
1.2. The Platform enables individuals and institutions to submit mature technologies or products developed within the scope of their industrial property rights and/or applications to BEKO and, subject to BEKO’s written acceptance, allows for the establishment of various cooperation models (including, without limitation, technology transfer, joint development, licensing, etc.).
1.3. Any existing or future contract, undertaking or agreement to which the Participant is subject shall not hinder the application of these Terms of Use.
1.4. The review, evaluation and any disposition relating to the Application Content and, exceptionally, intellectual and industrial property‑related content submitted under these Terms of Use by BEKO, its Affiliates, subcontractors and third parties authorized in writing by BEKO, as well as all terms and conditions of any contractual relationship to be established with the Participant upon BEKO’s written acceptance, shall be governed by a separate and independent written agreement. These Terms of Use alone do not create any cooperation, license, assignment or commitment.
1.5. BEKO, its Affiliates, its subcontractors and third parties acting as subcontractors with BEKO’s written authorization shall be entitled to examine and evaluate any intellectual and industrial property‑related outputs to which these Terms of Use apply and, solely for internal purposes, to share such outputs with their subcontractors and Affiliates.
2. ELIGIBILITY OF APPLICATION
2.1 If any person accepts this Agreement on behalf of an organization such as the company he/she works for, such person represents and warrants that he/she is duly authorized to represent and bind such organization before BEKO. In the event of any change in the authorized signatories of any Participant, the newly appointed authorized signatories shall assume all responsibilities and obligations set forth in this Agreement that previously applied to the former signatories.
2.2 The following are excluded from participation:
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BEKO and its Affiliates acting in their capacity as BEKO Group employees.
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Practices that violate BEKO’s ethical values.
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Persons, companies or institutions that violate these Terms of Use.
3. APPLICATION AND NOTIFICATIONS
3.1 Access to the BEKO Platform and submission of an application are free of charge. BEKO reserves the right to unilaterally amend these Terms of Use at any time. The amended terms shall enter into force as of the date they are published on the Platform.
3.2 The Participant shall be solely responsible for all (i) identity information, (ii) contact details, (iii) photographs, and (iv) Participant Content placed on, transmitted through or submitted via the Platform. It is accepted that the identity and contact information provided for registration are current, accurate and reliable. In the event that any content is unlawful, BEKO shall immediately remove such Application Content from the Platform. In such case, the Participant(s) shall have no claim or right against BEKO, and BEKO reserves the right of recourse and indemnification against the Participant(s) for any damages incurred due to unlawful sharing and content.
3.3 By submitting an Application, the Participant makes an offer to enter into negotiations with BEKO. The Application shall under no circumstances be deemed an acceptance and/or commitment by BEKO. BEKO reserves the right to submit the relevant Application to its Affiliates as it deems necessary and/or appropriate. However, BEKO reserves the right to accept the Application in order to evaluate the benefits of an innovation partnership and, at its sole discretion, to organize meetings between the Participant and BEKO or its Affiliates for the purpose of entering into negotiations for such innovation partnership. BEKO further reserves the right not to pursue the Application at the present time but to reassess it at a later stage in order to search for matching projects.
3.4 If the Participant’s Application is accepted for evaluation for negotiations or if it is decided not to initiate negotiations with the option of reassessing the Application in the future, the Participant shall be informed via the email address provided on the Platform. However, BEKO does not undertake to provide feedback for every Application. In any event, the Participant may not request an explanation as to why there is currently no match for its Application, may not demand positive or negative feedback, and may not claim that a partnership agreement has been concluded.
3.5 All notifications shall be sent electronically to the email address provided by the Participant.
4. RIGHTS RELATING TO PLATFORM CONTENT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
4.1 All intellectual and industrial property rights existing on the Platform, regardless of Participant Applications, belong exclusively to BEKO.
Unless otherwise stated, the intellectual and industrial property rights or usage license rights relating to logos, trademarks, names, domain names and other elements displayed on the Platform belong solely and exclusively to BEKO.
4.2 Unless expressly stated otherwise, the terms set forth herein do not grant Participants any right to use or make available to the public or use of such elements and shall not be construed as granting any permission or license.
4.3 For the purpose of benefiting from the Platform, BEKO grants the Participant a non‑exclusive, non‑transferable, revocable right of use limited solely to personal use over the software/interface of the Platform’s website. All intellectual and industrial property rights outside the specified use belong exclusively to BEKO, and the permission granted to the Participant does not include any other specific or general economic right or license.
4.4 The Platform, in whole or in part, may not be copied, reproduced, distributed (including distribution of copies), published, lent, altered, damaged or used as a sample for reproduction or creation by any means whatsoever (including printing, saving to disk, embedding on another site or downloading in any other manner).
4.5 The intellectual property rights relating to names, logos, trademarks and other materials belonging to third parties displayed on the Platform belong to the respective content providers/right holders. Unless expressly permitted by such providers/right holders, no part of such content may be copied, reproduced, distributed, published, processed or altered, in whole or in part, by any means whatsoever.
4.6 It is accepted that any Participant Content submitted, transmitted, used, created or transmitted to third parties via the Platform loses its confidential nature vis‑à‑vis BEKO and its Affiliates, and that such content is lawful, does not infringe any third‑party intellectual or industrial property, copyright or license rights, and does not constitute any legal, administrative or criminal violation.
4.7 When Participants create and upload content they deem confidential or subject to intellectual or industrial property rights, it is accepted that such content does not contain any “legal defect” and that the Participant has the right to publish such content via digital transmission. Otherwise, all responsibility shall rest with the Participant.
4.8 All responsibility (including liability to compensate any damages incurred by BEKO and third parties) arising from Participant Content submitted, transmitted, created or displayed on the Platform or for the Application, and from any actions taken in relation thereto, shall belong to the Participant.
4.9 Participants accept and undertake not to collect any data available on the Platform or on other Participant accounts and not to access the Platform’s database.
5. APPLICATION CONTENT
The following requirements shall apply to Application Content:
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It is accepted that the Participant is aware that ideas are not subject to intellectual property protection and that the Application is filed with this understanding. Application Content may only be evaluated if explained with sufficient technical detail. The basis of the Application Content must be subject to an industrial property right and/or a copyright certified through legally compliant methods (such as notarization, registration with the Ministry of Culture, timestamping, etc.). BEKO’s evaluation of the Application does not create any exclusive relationship, priority, obligation, license or partnership commitment. BEKO is free to cooperate with third parties in similar or identical fields.
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In exceptional cases, BEKO may evaluate Application Content for which no intellectual or industrial property rights have been registered. In such case, the Participant submitting the Application Content shall assume all risks relating to securing and asserting its rights over such content.
6. LIABILITY
6.1 In cases of unauthorized or unlawful use, the Participant causing such use shall be responsible for any damages incurred by BEKO or third parties. The Participant shall take necessary measures and notify BEKO immediately upon becoming aware that its name or content has been used without authorization or that an attempt has been made to unlawfully obtain such content.
6.2 All responsibility relating to transactions carried out with Application Content and the Application itself shall belong to the Participant.
6.3 By accepting these Terms of Use and benefiting from the Platform in any manner whatsoever, the Participant accepts responsibility for all transactions carried out. The Participant is entitled to decide whether or not to act based on any content available on the Platform or any communication or organization conducted through the Platform, regardless of its source or purpose. The legal consequences of such decision shall rest exclusively with the Participant.
6.4 BEKO reserves the right to terminate the Platform, access to the Platform and/or the Participant agreement due to any use of the Platform, including but not limited to erroneous, unlawful or illegal use of content and services provided via the Platform, and shall not be held liable for any material, moral, legal or financial consequences, damages or indirect losses such as loss of profit or income.
6.5 Participants may not use the information upload facilities provided on this Platform in any manner that disturbs public order, violates public morals, harasses or disturbs others, serves unlawful purposes or infringes third‑party rights. Furthermore, no transaction may be carried out that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionate load on BEKO’s infrastructure. In any event, BEKO shall not be held responsible for such content.
6.6 This Platform may contain links to sub‑sites or parent sites operated by third parties not owned or controlled by BEKO. BEKO provides no guarantee or undertaking regarding the content, appropriateness, security, privacy policies or uninterrupted communication of such websites and shall not be held responsible for personal data shared with such websites, content and services obtained therefrom, or their privacy policies and practices. Likewise, BEKO shall not be responsible for third‑party website links or information provided by Participants.
7. CONFIDENTIALITY
7.1 The Participant acknowledges, declares and undertakes that all information and documents provided to it by BEKO and/or third parties within the scope of this Agreement are confidential; that it shall keep such information and documents confidential during the term of this Agreement and indefinitely after termination; that it shall not disclose them to third parties; that it shall take all necessary measures for their protection; and that it shall not use them for any purpose other than the purpose of this Agreement. Information requested by judicial or administrative authorities pursuant to applicable laws may be shared by the Participant after prior consultation with BEKO; however, even in such case, such information shall not be deemed excluded from confidentiality and reasonable protection shall continue to be applied. Subject to Article 7.2.
7.2, BEKO shall also keep Participant and project‑related information confidential and may share Participant information and Application Content with companies directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by, or under common control with BEKO (“BEKO AFFILIATES”).
7.2 The Participant acknowledges, declares and undertakes that it has given prior consent to any written, oral or visual promotional, press and publication activities to be carried out by BEKO within the scope of promotion and commercialization activities relating to the Application Content, and that it shall notify BEKO’s management in writing, together with reasons, within ten (10) days from execution of this Agreement, of any part of the Application Content containing trade secrets for which it does not grant consent. Following such notification, the final decision regarding disclosure shall be made by BEKO. In the absence of any written notification, the Participant shall be deemed to have consented to such activities and shall hold BEKO harmless from any damages arising therefrom.
8. TERM AND TERMINATION
8.1 Either Party may unilaterally terminate the agreement relating to the Platform. The term of these Terms of Use shall commence upon the Participant’s submission of content to the Platform and acceptance of these terms and shall remain in force until terminated by BEKO or the Participant.
8.2 Prior to the execution of a written agreement with BEKO, the Participant may withdraw its submitted Application at any time. Withdrawal requests shall be submitted in writing, specifying the contact details provided during the Application and the relevant “Project/Initiative Title.” Upon receipt of such request, BEKO shall cease the evaluation process within a reasonable period of time.
8.3 The Participant accepts that information, documents, data and materials submitted within the scope of the Application that do not contain personal data may be retained by BEKO for the purposes of:
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compliance with legal obligations,
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record‑keeping obligations,
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internal evaluation and audit processes,
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intellectual property review and risk analysis.
9. GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION
The interpretation and application of these Terms of Use shall be governed by Turkish law. Any disputes or differences arising out of or in connection with these Terms of Use that cannot be resolved through mutual negotiations shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Istanbul Çağlayan Courts and Enforcement Offices.
