Turkey’s Internet Restrictions: A hindrance to IT hub ambitions?
Uğur Aktekin and Bentley James Yaffe of Gün + Partners examine the recent changes to Turkish Internet Law and the potential impact on the country’s IT business environment Recent years have seen internet usage greatly increase throughout Turkey, reaching 40 million broadband internet subscribers in the third quarter of 2014. With a young and dynamic population, increased internet penetration and a rise in the number of smart devices, Turkey is in a prime position to increase… »
Alternative Reimbursement Models for Healthcare Services
Introduction Alternative models for the reimbursement of health services have been a common phenomenon in Europe for many years. Countries have adopted diverse policies in this regard comprising, for instance, paybacks, price-volume agreements and economic evaluations. With the enactment of Law 6552 in September 2014, alternative reimbursement models have also become a hot topic in the Turkish healthcare industry. Background Law 6552 amended Article 73 of the Social Security… »
The Turkish Question: Anti-Corruption Legislation or Enforcement, Which Needs to Change?
In December 2014, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) took an important initiative by publishing its very first Foreign Bribery Report. Examining 427 bribery cases, The Report revealed that only 17 out of 41 members of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention concluded bribery investigations with court decisions over the past 15 years. Such a small number clearly presented the need for better enforcement of anti-corruption laws worldwide. While such… »
Marks may be Confusingly Similar Even Where Common Element is Generic/descriptive
Within the context of an invalidation action, the Ankara Third IP Court has held that the figurative trademark NEO CARE (depicted below), which covers goods in Class 5 of the Nice Classification, was confusingly similar to the trademark NEXCARE, which also covers goods in Class 5. The court considers that the device element of the NEO CARE mark was not distinctive and that the main element of the mark was its word element. Although this is not explicitly mentioned in the… »
The New E-Commerce Law Will Take Effect Soon In Turkey
The Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce (the “E-Commerce Law”) has recently been approved by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and published in the Official Gazette on 05.11.2014. The E-Commerce Law will enter into force by 01.05.2015. The E-Commerce Law has been enacted in parallel with the EU Directive on E-Commerce (2000/31/EC). The major provisions to be underlined in the E-Commerce Law are related to commercial electronic communication. Currently… »
Good Practice for Asset Recovery from White Collar Crime
Introduction A recent corruption case involving embezzlement, forgery and bribery by the chairman of a non-profit organisation provides an example of the new asset recovery practice that the Fifth Judicial Reform Package (February 21 2014) has introduced. During the criminal investigation and proceedings, the assets generated by the suspect’s crimes were confiscated successfully and in a timely manner. Further, the prosecutors attached importance to redeeming the value of the… »