Square Pegs in Round Holes: Invalidation Actions Against Unexamined Patents
The Turkish patent regime has a pre-grant opposition system and recognises two types of patent: unexamined patents and examined patents. Unexamined patents are granted without a substantive examination and are protected for seven years, while examined patents are granted only after passing the substantive examination and are protected for 20 years. Unexamined patents can also be converted into examined patents if a request for examination is made during the seven-year… »
Alternative Procedures for Asset Recovery
Introduction The Fifth Judicial Reform Package introduced important amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code on February 21 2014, including new requirements for the confiscation and freezing of assets as a precautionary measure during criminal investigations. These included a requirement for the competent authority to prepare a report in order for a confiscation decision to be rendered. Based on the nature and specifics of the case, the competent authority could be: the… »
Anti Counterfeiting 2015, A Global Guide, Turkey Chapter
Legal framework Turkey is a party to most international IP-related treaties, including the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), which aims to harmonise the legal framework for anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy. Accordingly, Trademark Decree-Law 556 is almost fully compliant with TRIPs. There are specialist civil and criminal IP courts in the three largest Turkish cities (Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir). In other cities the regular civil… »
The International Arbitration Review, Turkey Chapter, 6th Edition
I INTRODUCTION The use of arbitration as an ADR method in Turkey is on the rise, especially for international disputes. There is also a growing demand for the use of domestic arbitration, however, domestic parties mostly prefer court litigation for cultural and financial reasons and because of the way court and arbitration system is structured in Turkey. The establishment Arbitration of the IstanbulCentre, which aims to attract not only disputes involving Turkish parties but… »
Scope of Employers That Benefit From Employment Protection Provisions Has Been Widened
The number of employees in an associated company abroad, must be considered when determining whether an employer has more or less than 30 employees, for the purposes of employment protection under the Turkish Labour Act. Article 18 of the Turkish Labour Act provides employment protection for employees who have been working for at least six months at a workplace which has at least 30 employees. In these circumstances, an employer must have a valid reason to terminate an… »
Court Clarifies Meaning of ‘Identical’ and ‘Indistinguishably Similar’ Under Article 7/1(b)
In a recent decision (merit number 2014/15516, decision number 2015/327, January 14 2015), the 11th Chamber of the Court of Appeal has upheld a decision of the court of first instance (Ankara Fourth Civil Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights, merit number 2014/17, decision number 2014/136, June 11 2014) in which the court had cancelled a decision of the Re-Examination and Evaluation Board of the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI). The board had rejected the… »
IP Court Applies European Patent Convention in National Invalidity Proceedings
The general practice of the Turkish IP Court is to continue with invalidation proceedings brought against the Turkish validation of a European patent even where the patent is still under opposition or appeal before the European Patent Office (EPO). Although it is obvious why it may not be effective for a local court to evaluate the validity of the patent before the EPO has issued its final decision, the Turkish IP Court has based this practice on the length of EPO proceedings… »
Court of Appeal Recognises Well-known Status of Sheraton Device Marks
The Court of Appeal held that the SHERATON device marks are well known in the relevant sector; it was not possible for consumers to recognise that the trademarks belonged to two different entities, and consumers could believe that the SOYIÇ HOTEL mark belonged to the plaintiff. The court further held that the defendant was attempting to benefit unfairly from the plaintiff’s trademarks. Upon rejection by the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) of the appeal filed against the… »
Turkey’s Internet Restrictions: A hindrance to IT hub ambitions?
Uğur Aktekin and Bentley James Yaffe of Gün + Partners examine the recent changes to Turkish Internet Law and the potential impact on the country’s IT business environment Recent years have seen internet usage greatly increase throughout Turkey, reaching 40 million broadband internet subscribers in the third quarter of 2014. With a young and dynamic population, increased internet penetration and a rise in the number of smart devices, Turkey is in a prime position to increase… »
Alternative Reimbursement Models for Healthcare Services
Introduction Alternative models for the reimbursement of health services have been a common phenomenon in Europe for many years. Countries have adopted diverse policies in this regard comprising, for instance, paybacks, price-volume agreements and economic evaluations. With the enactment of Law 6552 in September 2014, alternative reimbursement models have also become a hot topic in the Turkish healthcare industry. Background Law 6552 amended Article 73 of the Social Security… »
The Turkish Question: Anti-Corruption Legislation or Enforcement, Which Needs to Change?
In December 2014, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) took an important initiative by publishing its very first Foreign Bribery Report. Examining 427 bribery cases, The Report revealed that only 17 out of 41 members of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention concluded bribery investigations with court decisions over the past 15 years. Such a small number clearly presented the need for better enforcement of anti-corruption laws worldwide. While such… »
Marks may be Confusingly Similar Even Where Common Element is Generic/descriptive
Within the context of an invalidation action, the Ankara Third IP Court has held that the figurative trademark NEO CARE (depicted below), which covers goods in Class 5 of the Nice Classification, was confusingly similar to the trademark NEXCARE, which also covers goods in Class 5. The court considers that the device element of the NEO CARE mark was not distinctive and that the main element of the mark was its word element. Although this is not explicitly mentioned in the… »