Amendments to the Execution and Bankruptcy Law and Certain Laws
The Law Amending the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law and Certain Laws ("Amendment Law"), known as the 7th Judicial Package, was published in the Official Gazette (32154) dated 05 April 2023 and entered into force except for several provisions with later effective dates. The Amendment Law sets out several changes in the fields of enforcement law, criminal law, and procedural law, and it expands the scope of mandatory mediation significantly. Some of the prominent amendments… »
Protection of Websites Under Turkish Law
Websites that are part of our daily lives consist of many elements such as webpages, the user interface, computer software, databases, and servers. Although there is no set of rules specifically applicable to them under Turkish law, their constituent elements and their content can be conferred legal protection if they meet the requirements of existing legislation. The question of whether websites are conferred additional legal protection separate from their constituent… »
Legislative Proposal on the Amendment of the Law on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Preparations No. 1262 and Certain Laws
The Legislative Proposal on the Amendment of the Law on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Preparations No. 1262, Certain Laws and Decree Law No. 663 (“the Legislative Proposal”) dated March 20, 2023, and numbered 2/5006 is an omnibus bill having some amendment offers regarding the regulating legislation of the health sector. The Legislative Proposal suggests defining the obligation of registration and notification to the Drug Tracking System at the level of the law, updating the… »
Recent Developments in TURKPATENT's Practice on Recording of Well-known Trademarks
We have previously reported on the Turkish Court of Cassation’s decision concluding that the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (hereinafter will be referred to as “TURKPATENT” or “the Office”) has no authority to create and maintain a registry for well-known trademarks and discussed possible repercussions of this decision for trademark owners. (Please see https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/article/court-of-cassation-reopens-debate-recordation-of-well-known-trademarks) The… »
The Revocation Procedure of Trademarks to be Handled by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office
Until the Industrial Property Law No. 6769 (“IPL”) entered into force on January 10, 2017, procedures regarding trademark rights were carried out with the abolished Decree-Law No. 556 on the Protection of Trademarks (“Decree Law”). The concept of "revocation", one of the cases of termination of a trademark right, regulated in both legislations, was defined under Article 14 of the Decree-Law. However, Article 14 was cancelled by the Constitutional Court with the decision… »
Is Partial Victory a Real Victory?
In 2022, the Ankara Regional Court of Appeal (“the RCA”) rendered a decision for an appeal regarding a cancellation action against the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office’s ( “the Office”) decision. Based on this decision, it is concluded that if an argument is rejected during the opposition proceedings before the Office and no appeal is filed against the non-acceptance of this argument before the Higher Board of the Office (even though the decision is in favour of the… »