Insights as to Turkish Copyright Law
What can content creators do to protect themselves? Copyright protection is mainly regulated under Turkish Intellectual and Artistic Works Law No. 5846 (referred to as Law No. 5846 hereafter). As to the Turkish Copyright Law, protection shall start with the creation and publication of the work to the public which meets the conditions under the Law No. 5846. Therefore neither registration of the copyright owned work with any competent authority nor confirmation of the same is… »
Scope of Protection of Weak Marks in Turkey
In a decision published on 18 December 2019, the Turkish Court of Cassation (COC) ruled that trade marks inspired by descriptive words, which are not allowed to be monopolized, are weak trade marks and cannot be protected like trade marks with a high distinctiveness. Even small differences can make these trade marks distinctive, and owners of weak marks cannot oppose the registration of the same signs with different elements. Mutlu Yıldırım Köse explains Plaintiff's… »
Key Developments and Predictions for Patent Law in Turkey – 2020
It has been three years since the Industrial Property Law, which combined different Decree Laws on specific IP rights, came into force. The fourth book of the Law introduces relatively new provisions regarding the patent system in Turkey that bring the national law into line with the European Patent Convention (EPC). Although it is too early for the implications of the new law to have come to light, working requirements and compulsory licensing remain the most questioned… »
Declaration of Use and Compulsory License
The new IP Law (the “Law”) numbered 6769 abolished the provisions on “the use requirement of patents,” and “the evidence of use” of the Decree Law Pertaining to the Protection of Patent Rights. The Law now focuses on the requirements of use for patents within the provision of a Compulsory License. Accordingly, a patent owner must make use of the patented invention within three years following publication of its granted decision in the Official Bulletin (‘the Bulletin’) or… »
Difficulties of Enforcing Patent Rights on NPP Products
The supply of pharmaceutical products to Turkey via the named patient programme (the “NPP”) is one of the exceptional importation regimes for pharmaceutical products. Where a pharmaceutical product is not granted marketing authorisation in Turkey, but patients are in need of it, it can be supplied via this special route. The entities that are authorised to import pharmaceuticals within the scope of the NPP are the Turkish Pharmacists’ Association (the “TEB”) and the Ibn-i… »
Ex Parte Injunctions in Turkish IP Law
Although ex parte injunctions are legally available, are quite rare in Turkish Patent Law practice. The IP Courts almost always reject requests for ex parte injunctions, preferring to evaluate the alleged infringement only after hearing both parties. However, in 2019, the Turkish IP Court unexpectedly granted a request for an ex parte injunction, due to the urgent nature of the matter. The request for this ex parte injunction was filed against a company in Argentina. The… »