New IP Court Ruling Sets Precedent For The EPC’s Application in Turkey
A recent ruling from a Turkish IP court breaks new ground in the ongoing battle for the European Patent Convention (EPC, 138/3) to be applied to patents in Turkey. The Turkish IP Law prohibits amendments or limitations of claims or patent documents after a patent has been granted. The only exception to this is changes made by the patentee during the national post-grant opposition phase, which was introduced in 2017. In line with the introduction of a post-grant opposition… »
Constitutional Court's Recent Decision on Reviewing Employees’ Corporate E-Mails by Employers
Reviewing employees’ corporate e-mail addresses by employers and relying on any findings collected during the inspection in a potential termination has been a controversial issue in terms of protection of personal data and privacy. The Constitutional Court rendered two decisions within the last four years regarding the right to privacy and privacy of communication aspects of the matter. Both decisions particularly elaborate on information of employees. Constitutional Court's… »
New Regulation on Processing of Personal Data in Electronic Communication Sector Has Been Published
The New Regulation on Processing of Personal Data and Protection of Privacy in the Electronic Communication Sector (the "Regulation") published in the Official Gazette on December 4, 2020 will come into force as of June 4, 2021. The Regulation sets forth procedures and principles applicable to the operators in in the electronic communication sector with respect to data (including personal data and data related to legal person subscriptions) which they collect within the… »
A Battle to Benefit from EPC 138/3
The IP Law of Turkey prohibits any kind of amendment/limitation of claims or patent documents after the patent has been granted. The only exceptions to this rule are the amendment/limitations made by the patentee during the national post-grant opposition phase, which was introduced to Turkish law in 2017. As per the introduction of a national post-grant opposition procedure, the Law also prohibits any ruling to be made in a revocation action against a national patent, while… »
A New Era for Domain Names Under the ‘.tr’ Extension
Registering and managing ‘.tr’ domain names was previously carried out by Nic TR, but will now be performed by the ITCA The long-awaited TRABIS system, which replaces the Nic TR system, is expected to become effective in the near future In contrast to the old system, the new system allows domain name sales transactions Background Since 1998 and until recently, Nic TR, under the Middle East Technical University, had been responsible for the registration and management of… »
New Code of Civil Procedure Extends Deadlines in Patent Litigation
The “Code on the Amendment of the Code of Civil Procedure and of Some Other Laws” entered into force in Turkey recently. This Code focusses on the principle of procedural economy and acceleration of the judicial process. One of the Code’s amendments important for patent law practice concerns the extension of the legal period in which to submit statements challenging court expert reports. This amendment to Article 281 of the Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”) stipulates that the… »
Reverting a Non-Examined Patent to an Examined Patent During Court Proceedings
In a recent case, a Turkish automotive company filed a patent infringement action against a German international automotive company, arguing that a system used in the cars of the German company infringed its non-examined patent granted before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TPTO). In a counter-claim, the German company and its Turkish authorised dealer filed an invalidation action against the non-examined patent in question before the same court. Although at the… »
Guidelines on Non-Clinical Evaluation of Vaccines
On 6 October 2020, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published Guidelines on Non-Clinical Evaluation of Human Vaccines (Turkish language) to provide guidance on vaccine development procedures. The guidelines regulate non-clinical evaluations and obtaining appropriate results from them, which are prerequisites for initiating clinical trials on a vaccine candidate. Non-clinical evaluation refers to all in vivo and in vitro tests performed before and during the… »
Guidelines on Named Patient Programme Amended
The Amended Guidelines on Named Patient Program (“Guidelines”) has been published by the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (“Agency”) on September 25, 2020. The Guidelines explains the procedure on the supply from abroad of drugs that are not authorized in Turkey and/or not available on the Turkish market due to various reasons. This Guidelines was first published in 2014, amended in 2015 and 2017, and finally published in its most current version on September 25… »
The Importance of Special Conditions When Coping with Negative Oil Prices and Covid-19
One way in which the Covid-19 pandemic has affected traders and producers is the shock negative pricing rates for crude oil. On 20 April 2020, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark for pricing US oil, fell as low as minus USD 37.63. Although the situation only lasted for a few hours, its global impact is measured in millions of dollars. As a result of globalisation, individual investors in Turkey profoundly felt the plunge in prices thousands… »
The Restriction on Foreign Currency Denominated or Indexed Contract Prices Continues
With the Presidential Decree numbered 85 and dated 12.09.2018, amendments were made on the Decree on the Protection of the Value of Turkish Lira numbered 32 and it was regulated that, besides the exceptions to be determined by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the contract prices and other payment obligations of all kinds of movable and immovable purchase and sale and renting, financial leasing and employment, service and work contracts between the Turkey-resident public… »
Cookies & Similar Technologies in Turkey
1. GOVERNING TEXTS 1.1. Legislation There is no specific legislation applicable to cookies and similar technologies. However, to the extent that cookies and similar technologies include or may be used to collect any data related to an identified or identifiable individual (personal data), then Law on Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 ('the Law') and its secondary legislation are also applicable to cookies and similar technologies which may be used by data controllers… »