IP Court Decisions Cast Doubt on Preliminary Injunctions
Co-published It has become common for a plaintiff in an invalidation or determination of non-infringement action to demand a precautionary injunction against a defendant patentee to prevent it from enforcing its patent rights against the plaintiff, although there is no explicit legal provision for this in the Turkish Patent Law or procedural law. The grounds on which such demands are based are highly questionable, considering that a patent term is limited and the period… »
Turkey: Generic vs. Innovator, Damages Action, Second Civil Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights in Istanbul, 1111/222 E. (2222/333 E.), 20 September 2013
Headnote The Turkish Court of first instance held that the liability for damages arising from an unfair preliminary injunction (where no infringement was found in the action on the merits) is a type of strict liability and therefore did not investigate whether the defendant was at fault when ruling that the conditions for compensation were deemed to be fulfilled. The decision given in this case is the first known decision in Turkey for the compensation of damages arising from… »
Turkish IP Court Issues First Pharma Damages Ruling
The Istanbul Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property has ordered a patentee to pay €333,000 to the manufacturer of a generic pharmaceutical, after an injunction was unfairly granted against the manufacturer’s product. However, both parties are appealing the decision – the first in this area. The IP Court initially granted a precautionary injunction against the manufacturer after a court-appointed expert panel opined that otherwise there would be a risk of patent… »
Consultation on draft Regulation on Sales, Advertisement and Promotion of Medical Devices
Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (“Agency”) recently published draft regulations for consultation in the field of medical devices. The drafts are important in terms of meeting with current market needs and harmonizing with EU legislation. The first draft regulation is the Regulation on Medical Devices which was drafted in parallel with the EU Medical Device Regulation (EU/2017/745). The significant changes are the explicit regulation of processes for placing on… »
Non-Use Defence in Opposition Proceedings in Turkey
In 2017, both the Industrial Property Code No. 6769 (the IPC) and the Regulation on the Implementation of the IPC (the Regulation) were published and entered into force, uniting all IP rights in one Code which were previously regulated by different decree-laws. The non-use defence in opposition proceedings was introduced with the IPC. According to the IPC if the trade mark claimed to be similar to the application is registered for more than 5 years as of the application date… »
When Is a Well-Known Trademark Likely To Suffer Dilution?
In a very recent decision, the Re-examination and Evaluation Board (“Board”) of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (“Office”) has accepted that third party attempt to feminize the Johnnie Walker striding man logo and register the same to use it in fashion and textile sector may cause serial mark impression, and dilute the striding man logo and harm the distinctiveness and reputation of the same, even though it is only registered and well-known for alcoholic… »