Aggravated Scrutiny for Consumer Reviews
Consumer reviews are of great importance in online shopping as they enable consumers to form their opinion in terms of the features and quality of the products or services that they consider purchasing and the care and professionalism the sellers and providers present to consumers. Due to the decisive impact of consumer reviews on consumers’ shopping preferences, the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices ("Regulation") were amended on February… »
Trademark Filing History May Result in Finding of Bad Faith Under Turkish Law
It is widely accepted in the literature[1] and decisions of the Court of Cassation[2] (“CoC”) that an applicant's attempt to create a trademark portfolio by trying to register other well-known trademarks can be sufficient to constitute proof of bad faith. In this context, first instance courts and regional courts of appeals will examine the applicant's other trademark applications and might accept that the registration of the disputed trademark was attempted in bad faith… »
EUROPATENT Case Considers Re-examination and Evaluation Board’s Discretion to Examine Absolute Grounds for Refusal
This long-running case went all the way to the Court of Cassation The Trademarks Department had partially refused the application for EUROPATENT on the grounds of descriptiveness and lack of distinctiveness; the board then decided ex officio to refuse the application for all the services applied for, citing additional grounds for refusal The case was analysed under the provisions of the now-repealed Decree Law No 556, which was in force at the relevant date Absolute… »
Turkey's New Trademark Revocation System: Administrative Changes Effective January 2024
Administrative revocation will be possible before the Office as of 10 January 2024. According to Article 9 of the Industrial Property Law No. 6769 (“IPL”), if a trademark is not used in five years as of its registration date or its use is suspended for a consecutive period of five years; it will be vulnerable to revocation due to non-use. Revocation of trademarks based on non-use were traditionally filed as a court action before the specialized IP courts under the previous… »
OneTrust Data Guidance Turkey - Employment
Beril Yayla Sapan and Begüm Yavuzdogan Okumuş have contributed to Data Guidance Turkey - Employment, which is published by OneTrust. OneTrus Data Guidance Turkey - Employment provides detailed information on employee privacy and data protection regulations in Turkey, covering key legislation, official guidelines, supervisory authorities, and case law. It outlines the absence of a specific employee privacy law in Turkey but emphasizes the importance of the Personal Data… »
Alternative Dispute Resolution System for Disputes Arising From ‘.tr’ Extended Domain Names in Türkiye
Overview On 14 September 2022, TRABIS (‘.tr’ Network Information System) took over the management of ‘.tr’ extended domain names with the Regulation coming into force in Türkiye. According to the Regulation, domain names can be allocated as documented or undocumented. Undocumented allocation is carried out within the framework of the ‘first come, first served’ rule. This rule is applied to domain names with the most commonly used extensions such as ‘.com.tr’, ‘.org.tr’… »
The Decision Of The Constitutional Court On The Administrative Fine Imposed By The Personal Data Protection Board
The Constitutional Court in its decision dated 12.10.2023 and numbered 2020/7518, published in the Official Gazette dated 15.12.2023, determined that the deficiencies in the proceedings against the administrative fine imposed by the Personal Data Protection Board (the “Board”) on a global hotel chain (the “Applicant”), in which the Board determined to have violated its obligations to ensure data security, violated the Applicant’s right to property. Within this framework, the… »
Türkiye's Update: Key Changes in Named Patient Program
Pharmaceuticals not authorized in Turkey or authorized pharmaceuticals not available in the market, shall be procured from abroad as per a special authorization (named patient program) in cases where patients require such pharmaceuticals. While this exceptional import regime for pharmaceuticals was until recently regulated by the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency ("Agency") through guideline, the Regulation on Supply of Pharmaceuticals from Abroad ("Regulation") was… »
Obligation to Open and Register a Website
Pursuant to Article 1524 of the Turkish Commercial Code (the "TCC"), joint stock and limited liability companies that are subject to independent audit (for detailed information on which companies are subject to independent audit please click here to access our article on the subject) are required to open a website within 3 months following the date of their incorporations in the trade registry or the date of entry into force of this obligation, and to devote a certain portion… »
New Electric Vehicle Import Regulations in Turkey
The Ministry of Commerce, aligning with the European Union and the Free Trade Agreement frameworks, has introduced some regulations for importing electric vehicles. On November 29, 2023, the Communiqué on the Import of Some Electric Vehicles (the “Communiqué”) was published on the Official Gazette. The Communiqué serves the purpose of regulating the import of electric vehicles belonging to non-European Union member states and Free Trade Agreement non-signatory states… »
Announcement on Products Not Evaluated as Medical Devices
On 30 October 2023, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (Agency) published an announcement (Turkish language) regarding products that are not considered within the definition of medical device or the scope of the legal framework. The Agency stated that, while some products which were considered medical devices or in vitro diagnostic devices under the legislation repealed by the EU Regulations 2017/745 and 2017/746 are excluded from the scope of the medical device… »
Turning the Turkish Tide on Rising Tactical Patent Invalidation Actions
Filing patent invalidation actions for tactical purposes such as jeopardising patent infringement actions of patent owners and gaining time by complicating the infringement proceedings has become a common strategy of infringers in recent years. This strategy may cause the patent owner to suffer due to the inability to use its patent properly during the limited protection period of 20 years, even if the invalidity claims do not have a solid basis and they are filed on a ‘try… »