IP Court Rejects Court of Appeal View on Second Medical Use Claims
In 2014 the Istanbul IP Court held that second medical use claims granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) under the European Patent Convention 1973 were null and void (for further details please see “IP court finds second medical use claims to be medical treatment methods”). This surprising decision was the first issued by the IP Court and thus was closely followed by various stakeholders, particularly IP lawyers and pharma companies. In particular, Turkish patent law… »
New Law on the Protection of Personal Data is on the Way
n April 7 2016 the long-awaited Law on the Protection of Personal Data was published in the Official Gazette. While many of the law’s provisions came into effect on the publication date, the implementation of some key provisions has been postponed until six months after publication.The Law on the Protection of Personal Data establishes the framework for a central data protection regime, which Turkey had been lacking, and clarifies many areas of uncertainty regarding issues of… »
An Appetite for the Uncertain
Upon confirmation of International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran has completed the necessary preparatory to start the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on January 16, 2016, both the US and the EU announced that certain economic and financial sanctions have been lifted. However, it should worth noting that there are still several sanctions directly applicable to US companies and enterprises which prevent them from benefiting from the lifted nuclear… »
Turkey Welcomes the Long Awaited Data Protection Law
The Law introduces an obligation to register and fines up to €300,000. Begüm Yavuzdoğan Okumuş examines Turkey’s new data protection law. For many years, Turkey has lacked separate legislation on the issue of data protection. Previous draft laws that have been sent to the Turkish Parliament were either returned to the proposing committee or not even discussed before the Grand Assembly as Parliament was being dissolved before a general election. However, following the recent… »
Procedures and Strategies for Pharmaceutical Brands
Pharmaceutical trademarks, like all other trademarks, are governed by Decree-Law 556 on the Protection of Trademarks. Before filing a trademark application, an availability search for the phrase to be filed should be conducted in the official database of the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) to eliminate or reduce the risk of refusal or infringement. Selection, clearance and registration Relevant national and international regulatory bodies and requirements Pharmaceutical… »
Draft Industrial Property (Rights) Law Includes Compulsory Licence Provisions
On May 5 2016 the draft Industrial Property (Rights) Law passed the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology commissions with minor amendments. One of the most debated issues was the application of the doctrine of international exhaustion of IP rights to all IP rights (for further details please see “Turkey poised to adopt doctrine of international exhaustion”). Another hotly debated issue covered in the draft law is the inclusion of compulsory licensing provisions in the… »