Turkish IP Court Issues First Pharma Damages Ruling
The Istanbul Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property has ordered a patentee to pay €333,000 to the manufacturer of a generic pharmaceutical, after an injunction was unfairly granted against the manufacturer’s product. However, both parties are appealing the decision – the first in this area. The IP Court initially granted a precautionary injunction against the manufacturer after a court-appointed expert panel opined that otherwise there would be a risk of patent… »
Consultation on draft Regulation on Sales, Advertisement and Promotion of Medical Devices
Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (“Agency”) recently published draft regulations for consultation in the field of medical devices. The drafts are important in terms of meeting with current market needs and harmonizing with EU legislation. The first draft regulation is the Regulation on Medical Devices which was drafted in parallel with the EU Medical Device Regulation (EU/2017/745). The significant changes are the explicit regulation of processes for placing on… »
Non-Use Defence in Opposition Proceedings in Turkey
In 2017, both the Industrial Property Code No. 6769 (the IPC) and the Regulation on the Implementation of the IPC (the Regulation) were published and entered into force, uniting all IP rights in one Code which were previously regulated by different decree-laws. The non-use defence in opposition proceedings was introduced with the IPC. According to the IPC if the trade mark claimed to be similar to the application is registered for more than 5 years as of the application date… »
When Is a Well-Known Trademark Likely To Suffer Dilution?
In a very recent decision, the Re-examination and Evaluation Board (“Board”) of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (“Office”) has accepted that third party attempt to feminize the Johnnie Walker striding man logo and register the same to use it in fashion and textile sector may cause serial mark impression, and dilute the striding man logo and harm the distinctiveness and reputation of the same, even though it is only registered and well-known for alcoholic… »
Turkey’s BTK Imposes Data Localization Requirements on E-SIM Technologies
On March 28, Turkey’s Information Technologies and Communication Authority, the Bilgi Teknolojileri ve İletişim Kurumu, published its decision(dated Feb. 12, 2019) on remote programmable e-SIM technologies imposing localization requirements on e-SIM technologies and prohibition of permanent roaming is once again clarified. The decision also refers to the previous decision of the BTK regarding e-call systems (dated Jan. 22, 2018). In its previous decision, the BTK indicated… »
What If Your Unquantified Amount of Monetary Claim is in Fact Quantifiable?
Introduction When the new Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) was enacted in 2011, it introduced a new case type to Turkish litigation where plaintiffs file an action for receivables for an unquantified amount that is left to the courts to determine subject to dispute. When filing such actions, plaintiffs: state the amount of determinable receivables as the minimum amount subject to dispute; pay a case fee based on this amount; and extend their claim to the amount calculated by… »
EU Requests Consultation before The WTO on Turkey’s Localisation Policy
On April 2, 2019, the European Union (“EU”) requested a consultation before the World Trade Organisation (‘WTO’) regarding measures adopted by Turkey in relation to the production, importation and marketing of pharmaceutical products, which are claimed to be non-compliant with international agreements. Background Following the announcement of the Structural Transformation Programme Action Plan for Healthcare Industries by the Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on November 7… »
Choice of Foreign Law in Contracts to be Concluded Between Turkish Citizens
Nowadays, Turkish real persons and/or legal entities may have a tendency to choose foreign law as applicable law to their contracts. There could be several reasons for such tendency. In particular, contracting legal entities’ being members of global group companies and certain contracts’ being drafted earlier as template in line with the policy of such group lead to choice of foreign law. Likewise, there could be cases where the chosen foreign law is deemed by the contracting… »
FICPI Turkey – Roundtable Meeting on the Similarity of Goods and Services
FICPI – TURKEY arranged its fifth roundtable meeting on how goods/services similarity concept is interpreted in the doctrine of trademark law and also by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (“Office”) and the Courts and how the foreign courts and trademark offices practise on this matter. Ms. Yasemin Kenaroğlu, who is a member the Board of Directors of FICPI – TURKEY, moderated the meeting accompanied by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Paslı. 24 participants were present at the… »
Protecting Non-Traditional Trademarks
Non-traditional trademarks refer to marks which are not traditionally perceived as trademarks. Some examples are colour, sound, motion, position and 3D views of products etc. Non-traditional trademarks are not specifically described in the Turkish Industrial Property Code (the IP Code) which came into force on January 10 2017 in Turkey. Since there is no special provision in the code regarding the registration of non-traditional trademarks, the principles pertaining to the… »
Assessing the Difficulties of Enforcing Patent Rights over NPP Products
The supply of pharmaceutical products to Turkey via the named patient programme (NPP) is one of the exceptional importation regimes for pharmaceutical products. Where a pharmaceutical product is not granted marketing authorisation in Turkey but patients are in need of it, it can be supplied via this special route. The entities that are authorised to import pharmaceuticals from abroad within the scope of the NPP are the Turkish Pharmacists’ Association (TEB) and the Ibn-i Sina… »
Discovery of Evidence Not being Subject to Bolar Exemption
Discovery of evidence and actions for determination of evidence are separately regulated under the rocedural Law. Discovery of evidence is a preliminary step taken before any action on merits and it only serves to discover and record the evidence that may be relevant to an ongoing or future action on merits. It must be emphasised that there is no full and frank disclosure procedure under the Turkish civil law system unlike the US and UK systems. In other words, the parties… »