Why Compulsory Licensing is a Blunt Instrument in the Post-Covid Landscape
Earlier this year the Turkish minister of health announced that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had made a compulsory licence decision about the active ingredient molnupiravir. In line with the fact that the decision was made directly by the president, it was understood that the provision of a compulsory licence due to public interest was applied. However, the patent owner was not notified of the presidential decision nor was it publicly accessible, so the terms, the licensee… »
New Reimbursement Regulation Published
On 25 August 2022, the Social Security Institution Reimbursement Regulation (Turkish language) was published in the Official Gazette numbered 31934. The regulation has replaced the previous Social Security Institution Reimbursement Regulation from 2016. The most important amendments are made on the Pharmaceutical Reimbursement Commission's (PRC) working procedures. The regulation includes new definitions for therapeutic reference (TR) group, biosimilar medicinal product… »
New Regulation on Drug Reimbursement has been Published
The Social Security Institution’s (“SSI”) Regulation on Drug Reimbursement (“Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette no. 31934, dated 25.08.2022. With this new Regulation, the Social Security Institution Drug Reimbursement Regulation dated 10.02.2016 was abolished. The most important amendments that came into force with the Regulation are the introduction of new definitions, new provisions regarding the prioritization of the applications for the reimbursement of… »
Having Valid Trademark Registration No Longer Creates Immunity Against Infringement Claims
Bakırköy 1st Civil IP Court, in an invalidation action against a registered trademark where trademark infringement and unfair competition is also claimed due to use of the challenged registered trademark, decided to accept the case and ordered for invalidation of the challenged trademark registration as per senior trademark rights of the plaintiff, also decided for determination and revocation of the trademark infringement and unfair competition caused due to use of the… »
V Versus V: Assessment of Similarity Between One-letter Trademarks
The IP Court found that there was no likelihood of confusion between the parties’ ‘V’ marks, contradicting the expertreport’s evaluation Versace’s mark included fi gurative elements that rendered it distinctive, while the plaintiff’s marks included descriptivephrases The decision confi rms that the likelihood of confusion assessment shall be stricter when it comes to one-letter trademarks Background An opposition was fi led against Gianni Versace SRL’s trademark application… »
Advertisement Containing Blurred Images of Rivals’ Products is Banned
The Advertisement Board rendered an important decision regarding comparative advertising practice on August 9, 2022. The decision pertains to the advertisement published in the catalogue offered to consumers monthly by a globally-known cosmetics and fragrance company which compared two of its fragrances with the products of two world-famous fragrance brands. The advertisement published in the catalogue of the advertiser regarding its products contains the expressions of “It… »