Unfair Approach of Turkish IP Courts while Assessing “Bolar Exemption”
The article 85(3) (c) of the Industrial Property Law, which excludes the marketing authorization application from the scope of the patent right, is interpreted by the IP courts against the patent holder in a disproportionate way. The exemption here is the procedures that generic companies required to perform before the Ministry of Health in order to obtain a marketing authorization. Thus, for example, it enables the generic pharmaceutical company that applied for marketing… »
Changes to Minimum Wage, Severance Payments and Administrative Fines in 2020
Minimum wage Severance payments Administrative fines At the beginning of each year, the minimum wage, severance payments and administrative fines prescribed by the Labour Act are revised. On 1 January 2020 the changes for 2020 came into effect. Minimum wage In 2019 the monthly minimum wage rate was TL2,558.40 (gross). As of 1 January 2020, this has increased to TL2,943.00 (gross). The new rate applies from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020. The minimum wage applies to all… »
Notes from the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index for Turkey
On 23 January 2020, Transparency International announced the much-awaited results of the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index (the “CPI 2019”), which reflects the perception of country experts, non-governmental organisations and representatives of the business world of corruption in public sector. The CPI 2019 scores 180 countries and territories on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The results, unfortunately, did not come as too much of a surprise for Turkey… »
Supreme Court Revokes Its Decision on Service Date of Electronic Notifications
Introduction As of 1 January 2019, the scope of electronic notification was expanded to include several institutions, including all public institutions and organisations, lawyers, notaries, experts and mediators following amendments to the Notification Law (7201). The Post and Telegraph Organisation has been assigned the operation of electronic notification transactions through the National Electronic Notification System. Further, the Regulation on Notification via Electronic… »
Social Security Institution Announcement on Imported Supply of Pharmaceuticals
Özge Atılgan Karakulak and Dicle Doğan, Gun + Partners On 7 January 2020, the Social Security Institution (SSI) published an announcement (Turkish language) on the procurement of pharmaceuticals from abroad by Ibn-i Sina Health and Social Security Centre (Ibn-i Sina). The announcement required that all bids from manufacturers, authorised firms, intermediary firms and pharmaceutical warehouses for the supply of certain specified pharmaceuticals or their generics to Ibn-i Sina… »
Drug Licensing Regulation Amended
Dicle Doğan and Fatma Sevde Tan, Gun + Partners On 8 January 2020, a Regulation amending the Regulation on Licensing of Human Medicinal Products (Turkish language) was published in Official Gazette (No 31002). Those amendments entered into force the same day. The new Regulation adds an additional paragraph to Article 2 of the Regulation on Licensing of Human Medicinal Products (Licensing Regulation). With the additional paragraph, individual allergen products and skin tests… »
Announcement on New Medical Device Requirements
Dicle Doğan and Fatma Sevde Tan, Gun + Partners The EU Medical Devices Regulations ((EU) 2017/745) (MDR) will become applicable on 26 May 2020. As a non-EU country, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published an announcement (Turkish language) on 30 December 2019 advising that harmonisation of Turkish regulations with the new rules is to continue. The announcement notes that the MDR sets new principles for manufacturers, importers and distributors, and new… »
“Cannabis Store Amsterdam” Marka Başvurusu Kamu Düzenine Aykırı Bulundu!
A Comparative Analysis of Content-of-Laws Inquiry and its Importance for International Commercial Arbitration
How is the content of laws determined, and by whom, in international commercial arbitration? This topic mainly concerns an old legal assumption: iura novit curia, the Latin legal maxim for “the court knows the law”. While somewhat reasonable and predictable on the face of it since anyone can reasonably expect the court to know the law, the assumption paves the way for some serious practical consequences: If the court knows the law, parties are mostly expected to furnish the… »
CJEU Declares the Criteria to be Considered in Determination of Bad Faith
In its judgement of 12 September 2019, the European Union Court of Justice (“CJEU”) held that the applicant was acting in bad faith when he filed the application for the trademark taking the earlier business relationship between the applicant and the opponent and ruled how the conditions sought for bad faith should be examined. In the judgment C-104/18 P, which was handed down by the CJEU on 12.09.2019, it was declared which criteria should be taken into consideration for the… »
Private M&A 2020 in Turkey
Corporate entities and acquisition methods1. What are the main corporate entities commonly involved in private acquisitions?In private acquisitions the main companies used are joint stock companies and limited liability companies. 2. Are there any restrictions under corporate law on the transfer of shares in a private company? Are there any restrictions on acquisitions by foreign buyers?Restrictions on share transferUnder the Turkish Commercial Code numbered 6102 there are no… »
Amendment on Commercial Communication Regulation in Turkey
With the “Regulation Amending the Regulation on Commercial Communication and Commercial Electronic Messages” (“Regulation”) published on 4 January 2020, new obligations were imposed on commercial electronic messaging that would affect all those using electronic messages. Under the new regulations, the most crucial obligation is registry with the newly established Message Management System called IYS. “Data, audio and video content messages that are sent for commercial… »