A new adventure for the intellectual property system in Turkey: IP Code No 6769
The Industrial Property Code No 6769 (the ‘IP Code’), which was prepared by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (the ‘Office’), and abolished previous intellectual property (IP)-related decree laws was accepted by Parliament on 22 December 2016 and entered into force on 10 January 2017 following its publication in the Official Gazette.In the 1990s, Turkey conducted official negotiations with the European Union (EU) in order to become a member of the Customs Union. Within… »
Turkish Trade Mark Office protects New Zealand’s famous rugby team’s The Kiwis trade mark
The Turkish Trade Mark Office has allowed an opposition based on genuine rights obtained via prior use of the opponent’s trade mark and worldwide registrations although that trade mark is not used in Turkey for the relevant goods and services. The opponent is the owner of the New Zealand’s famous rugby team (the New Zealand Kiwis), commonly known as “The Kiwis”, and has trade mark registrations for “The Kiwis” in many countries. Turkey however is not one of them and the… »
Automatic enrolment in private pension plans system
Introduction A long-awaited legal arrangement on employees’ automatic enrolment in private pension plans by their employers was introduced into Turkish law by way of an amendment law published on August 25 2016. The amendment law adds new provisions to the Private Pension Savings and Investment System Act 2001. Accordingly, employees (including public officials) under the age of 45 will be enrolled in a private pension plan with a pension agreement between the employer and a… »
Turkey’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranking falls
Introduction On January 25 2017 Transparency International published the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index, which reflects non-governmental organisations’ and business world representatives’ perception of public sector corruption and ranks countries on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The results are based on 13 research initiatives conducted by 12 international organisations in 176 countries.(1) Turkey came 75th out of 176 countries (nine places lower… »
Büyük Güç Büyük Sorumluluk Getirir
Does the ‘part included in the whole’ principle apply to services under Class 35?
The Court of Appeal recently issued a decision stating that although a trademark application for retail services of certain goods in Class 35 was similar to a senior trademark – the scope of which was indicated with general phrases such as “retail services of all/various goods” in Class 35 – the application could not be rejected on the grounds of confusing similarity unless the owner of the senior trademark proved that it was genuinely used (or at the very least, serious… »