Developments on Signature Specimen and Signature Circular
Amendments Related to Signature Specimen The Amending Law Related to the Technology Development Zones and Certain Other Laws (the "Law No. 7263") was published in the Official Gazette on February 3, 2021 and entered into force on the same date. Article 22 of the Law No. 7263 amended Article 40 of the Turkish Commercial Code with respect to issue of signature specimen. In this regard, the amendment provides that signature samples of real person merchants and authorized… »
Arbitration Proceedings Regarding Determination of Reasonable Amount for Employee’s Invention
In 2020, an arbitration judgment was held in accordance with the ISTAC serial arbitration procedure regarding the compensation request for employee invention and, as far as it is known, this is the first and pilot file in which the Regulation on Employee Inventions, Inventions in Higher Education Institutions and Public Funded Projects, will determine the price tariff for employees’ inventions and the arbitration procedure to be followed in case of dispute. Within the scope… »
Declaration of Use and Compulsory License
The new IP Law (the “Law”) numbered 6769 abolished the provisions on “The use requirement of patents,” and “The evidence of use” of the Decree Law Pertaining to the Protection of Patent Rights. The Law now focuses on the requirements of use for patents within the provision of a Compulsory License. Accordingly, a patent owner must make use of the patented invention within three years following publication of its granted decision in the Official Bulletin (‘the Bulletin’), or… »
Does Likelihood of Confusion Exist Based on a Common Weak Element?
The Turkish Court of Cassation (‘CoC’) upheld lower court decisions which ruled in favour of cancelling the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office’s (‘Office’) Re-Examination and Evaluation Board’s (‘Higher Board’) decision for invalidation of the ‘Mazstar’ trademark on the basis of likelihood of confusion with the plaintiff’s trademarks bearing the common element ‘Star’. Dispute Background The defendant filed an application before the Office for ‘MAZSTAR’ in classes 29 and 30.… »
A Look at Brand Enforcement During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Turkey’s first official diagnosis of COVID-19 was announced on March 11 2020. Since then, the country has experienced lockdowns, quarantines, travel bans and limited access to public services at various levels, depending on the progress of the pandemic. There were months where the legal and administrative bodies’ effectiveness was inversely proportional with the curve of pandemic, which affected all governmental agencies. Incidentally, brand enforcement activities were also… »
Constitutional Court’s Recent Decision Regarding Inspection on Employee E-mails
Constitutional Court’s decision of 12 January 2021 concerning the application no. 2018/31036[1] discusses, once again, employer inspection on employees’ corporate e-mail accounts and the terminations relying on the collected correspondences, in scope of the right to protection of personal data and freedom of communication. In the said decision, the Constitutional Court found no violation as to the right to protection of personal data and freedom of communication, since the… »