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Articles

Countdown to Revocation Requests at The TPTO

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Trademarks and Designs || Güldeniz Doğan Alkan and Cansu Evren

In one year’s time, trade mark revocation proceedings will be possible before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TPTO). Güldeniz Doğan Alkan and Cansu Evren discuss the changes. Article 26 of the IP Code After years of proceeding with a Decree Law, the Intellectual Property Code no. 6769 entered into force in Turkey on 10 January 2017. Article 26 of the IP Code regulates the revocation of a trade mark registration. It foresees that the trade mark shall be revoked in the...»

Determination of Evidence in Disputes Over Pharmaceutical Patents

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Life Sciences and Patent and Utility Models || Aysel Korkmaz Yatkın, Selin Sinem Erciyas and Zeynep Çağla Üstün

Introduction The determination of evidence, one of the most important temporary legal protection measures regulated in Turkish law, is an institution that ensures the protection of evidence which will assist in proving the matter in question. Considering that the adversarial trial process is adopted in Turkish civil procedure law, the significance of the rights holder being able to have the evidence that will help them prove themselves effectively determined is clear. However...»

New e-commerce Regulation Sets Out Details of Takedown Procedure For Infringing Content

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Trademarks and Designs || Mutlu Yıldırım Köse and Dilan Sıla Kayalıca

A new regulation complementing Law No 7416 on e-commerce came into effect on 1 January 2023 The regulation clarifies the takedown procedure upon receipt of a legitimate complaint by an IP rights holder While this will help rights holders to take down infringing products quickly, ambiguities regarding the procedure may still create problems in practice Background A new law on e-commerce (No 7416), which was published in the Official Gazette dated 7 July 2022, came into effec...»

Changes to Minimum Wage, Severance Payments and Administrative Fines

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Employment || Beril Yayla Sapan and Kardelen Özden

At the beginning of each year, the minimum wage, severance payments and administrative fines prescribed by the Labour Act are revised. This article provides an overview of the 2023 changes, which came into effect on 1 January 2023. Minimum wage In 2022 the monthly minimum wage rate was 5,004 Turkish liras (gross), which was increased to 6,471 Turkish liras (gross) as of 1 July 2022. As of 1 January 2023, this has increased to 10,008 Turkish liras (gross). The minimum wage app...»

Developments in the Obligation of Registration to Data Controllers’ Registry

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Data Protection and Privacy || Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş and Yalçın Umut Talay

In accordance with Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (the “DPL”) and the Regulation on Data Controllers’ Registry (“Regulation”), data controllers shall get registered to the Data Controllers’ Registry (“VERBIS”). In terms of the private sector, periods regarding the registration obligation has expired as of 31.12.2021 for (i) data controllers located outside of Turkey, (ii) data controllers having more than 50 employees annually or an annual balance sheet with a value mo...»

The Guideline for Environmental Claims in Advertising Has Been Published

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Technology, Media and Telecom and Corporate and M&A || Hande Hançar and Baran Güney

The Guideline for Environmental Claims in Advertising (“Guideline”), enacted by the Advertisement Board at the meeting dated 13.12.2022 and numbered 328, has been published. The purpose of the Guideline is to inform persons, institutions and organizations on legal compliance of their environmental claims contained in commercial advertisements and commercial practices conducted by advertisers, advertisement agencies and media organizations.   Highlights of the Guideline “Env...»

“Plausibility” in Turkish Patent Law and Its Impact in Revocation Proceedings

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Patent and Utility Models || Aysel Korkmaz Yatkın, Selin Sinem Erciyas and Aysu Eryaşar

The grounds for the invalidation of a patent within the scope of Turkish Industrial Property Law No. 6769 are listed as per the numerus clausus principle. The concept of plausibility – which has been the subject of numerous evaluations, especially by the European Patent Office (“EPO”) and frequently debated in academic circles in recent years – has not yet found a place within the scope of any legal regulation in Turkey. Moreover, there is no consensus on the Turkish word tha...»

The Euro Value Applied to Pharmaceutical Prices was increased by 36.77%

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Life Sciences || Özge Atılgan Karakulak, Dicle Doğan and Fatma Sevde Tan

On 14 December 2022, the presidential decree numbered 6546 (“Decree”) amending the Decision on Pricing of Medicinal Products for Human Use (“Decision”) was published in the Official Gazette numbered 32043.  With the provisional clause added to the Decision, the effective date of the changes made in real source price or ex-factory price as per Article 10 of the Communique on the Pricing of Medicinal Products for Human Use, was determined to be the publication date of this Deci...»

Protection of Websites Under Turkish Law

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Trademarks and Designs || Uğur Aktekin and Havva Yıldız

Introduction The Internet has gone beyond of its fundamental functions of providing access to information and distributing the same and become a tool for interconnecting the entire world and an irreplaceable method of meeting the most basic human needs due to the transformation it has been going through the recent years. Accordingly, websites have turned into platforms with which we make contacts multiple times every day in order to carry out our daily activities. In Turkey, ...»

State Council’s Decision on the Rules and Procedures Regarding Experts at Insurance Arbitration Commission

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Insurance and Reinsurance || Aysel Korkmaz Yatkın and Kardelen Özden

Article 16(12) of the Regulation on Insurance Arbitration ("the Regulation") stipulates that arbitrators can decide to get the opinion and vote of an expert upon the request of one of the parties or ex-officio, if the case requires special or technical knowledge which falls outside of legal expertise. Board of Directors of the Insurance Arbitration Commission issues a list of experts for the arbitrators to apply each year as per the rules set out by the Turkish Insurance and ...»

Court of Cassation Puts an End to Long-Running Sheraton Dispute

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Trademarks and Designs and Patent and Utility Models || Güldeniz Doğan Alkan and Ayşenur Çıtak Bozdağ

Background In 2015 the Turkish Court of Cassation (CoC) found that the trademark SOYIÇ HOTEL and device (depicted below on the left) was confusingly similar to Sheraton’s well-known device mark (depicted below on the right), so that there was likelihood of confusion (decision of the 11th Chamber of the Court of Cassation dated 9 March 2015, merit number 2014/ 18262, decision number 2015/ 3101). The CoC also held that Sheraton’s device trademark is well known in its secto...»

Authorization Obligation is on the Horizon for OTT Services

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Technology, Media and Telecom || Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş and Yalçın Umut Talay

The law, known as the 'disinformation law,' entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette on October 18, 2022.  The new period for all OTT service providers, which provide interpersonal electronic communications services within the scope of audio, visual, written communications provided to the end users or subscribers having internet access, independently from the operators and internet services, through a publicly available software, has started on October...»