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Insights

We share our knowledge and expertise to update our community and clients about legal developments in Turkey.

Named Patient Program in Turkey

Named Patient Program (“NPP”) is one of the exceptional pharmaceutical importation regimes for products that are not authorized or authorized but unavailable in the Turkish market for various reasons. After numerous allegations in the news that the drugs supplied from abroad and used in cancer treatment were only products containing painkillers and that the products were counterfeit, the Regulation on the Supply of Medicines from Abroad (“NPP Regulation”) was published on… »

Omnibus Law Amends Pharmaceutical Legislation

On 1 March 2024, the Omnibus Law Amending Certain Laws and Decree Law No. 663 (the “Omnibus Law”), which amends certain provisions of the Law No. 1262 on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Preparations (the “Law No. 1262”) and the Fundamental Law on Healthcare Services No. 3359 (the “Law No. 3359”), was published in the Official Gazette numbered 32476. In the general preamble of the Omnibus Law, it was stated that social and economic transformation, rapidly developing technology… »

Jurisdictional Conflicts in Global FRAND Cases and the EU's WTO Complaint against China for Alleged Violation of TRIPs

Anti-suit injunctions ("ASI") issued by Chinese courts, which prevent parties of proceedings concerning standard-essential patents ("SEPs") from bringing proceedings against each other in different countries, have become one of the controversial issues in these proceedings, highlighting the "jurisdiction of the court".  As is known, in the case of SEPs, the first issue that confronts the patent holder and the company implementing the SEP is whether a licence has been asked… »

Turkish Court of Cassation’s Recent Approach to Public Policy in Enforcement and Setting-Aside of Foreign Arbitral Awards

In general terms, public policy is defined as a set of rules and principles ensuring a smooth conduct of public services, a state’s security and safety, and compliance of the relationship between individuals with the principles of peace and ethics[1]. Due to its conceptual nature and vulnerability to a turmoil of different interpretations, violation of public policy appears as one of the most prevalent counter arguments in enforcement and setting-aside proceedings of foreign… »

The Long-Awaited Amendments to the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law Has Been Enacted

The Law No. 7499 on Amending the Code of Criminal Procedure and Certain Laws (“the, which includes the long-awaited amendments to the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law (the “Law”) and is also referred to as the 8th Judicial Reform Package, was published in the Official Gazette dated 12 March 2024 and numbered 32487. Significant changes regarding the processing of sensitive personal data, cross-border transfer of personal data, administrative sanctions and legal remedies… »

Does Artificial Intelligence Tell the Truth?

Being aware of the fact that technological developments have diversified the ways in which commercial advertisements are created and presented to consumers, the Advertisement Board ("Board") scrutinizes the advertising content created by artificial intelligence. In Turkey, there is no regulation that directly addresses advertisements created by using artificial intelligence. The Board reviews these advertisements in accordance with the general principles of truth and good… »

Combating Counterfeit and Smuggled Drugs

Foreign pharmaceutical trademarks, in principle, are registered in the name of the companies in the countries where they are established, and trademark protection procedures are managed by those companies. Although affiliates in Türkiye are not a party to trademark protection proceedings, since they become the marketing authorization holders of the drug, they are considered the relevant addressee of the Ministry of Health (“MoH”) in all transactions related to the… »

New Legislation on IP Infringement on e-Commerce Platforms

Law No. 7416, amending E-Commerce Law came into effect on January 01, 2023. This law obliges e-commerce platforms to take down a product if they receive a legitimate complaint alleging that a violation of intellectual and industrial property rights has occurred on their platform.   According to Law No. 7416, the general principle is that the intermediary service provider (i.e., the platform) is not responsible for the illegality of the content offered by the service provider.… »

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Trademark Law

The impact of the spread of artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies can be seen in many areas of law, including trademark law. The rapid development of AI technologies has given rise to the need to re-evaluate some of the basic practices and concepts of trademark law. The first aspect of these developments is the use of AI in trademark application, registration and other related administrative procedures. As can be seen from the Index[1] published by the World… »

The Relationship Between Virtual and Physical Goods and Services

The development of NFTs, artificial intelligence, and the metaverse has seen many individuals and legal entities start to include virtual goods and services within the scope of their trademarks. Discussions have been widely held about whether virtual goods and services are similar to physical goods and services and under which class these goods and services should be included in the Nice Classification, and the following developments have taken place in this regard. In a… »

The Use Criteria For The Recognition of Vested Right Claim Based on a Prior Trademark

In its decision dated 21.12.2022 and numbered 2021/5302 E.(Merits), 2022/9311 K.(Decision), the 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation upheld the Regional Court of Appeal’s decision regarding a refiled trademark application that because the plaintiff could not prove genuine use in class 44, a vested right in the plaintiff’s favor over the “M…” trademark was not constituted. On June 07, 2013, a trademark application was filed for the registration of the trademark “M…” in… »

Overview of Turkish IP Protection: Navigating Challenges

Turkish IP legislation is mostly in compliance with EU legislation. With the adoption of IP Code No. 6769 back in 2017, it is fair to say that legislation regarding trademarks, designs and patents is in line with international norms and standards. While the legal framework provides a solid foundation for IP rights protection, practical obstacles persist, revealing the need for further improvements. A significant challenge has been the limited specialized knowledge among… »

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