New Developments in Combat Against Smuggled counterfeit Products
The smuggling police and customs enforcement officers take ex-officio action against smuggling offenses as per Anti-Smuggling Law no.5607, the basic purpose of which is fighting customs tax evasions. All smuggled products seized by such enforcement bodies are delivered to customs liquidation directorates for storage and sale. In contrast, trade mark infringement is set forth in Industrial Property Law no.6769 as an offense being subject to a “criminal complaint” to be filed… »
Life Sciences Newsletter, January 2018
Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency becomes PIC/S memberDicle Doğan and Mert Özal, Gün + Partners The Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published a press release (Turkish language) on its website, announcing that on 1 January 2018, the agency became an official member of the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S). As a consequence of the approved membership, inspections made by the agency should now be acknowledged all around the globe. In… »
Recent Development on Utilization of FX Loans
Decree No. 2018/11185 amending the Decree No. 32 on the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Currency and Communiqué No. 2018-32/46 amending the Communiqué on the Decree No. 32 on the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Currency were published in the Official Gazette No. 30312 on January 25, 2018. The amendments made by the decree in full and Article 2 of the communiqué bringing amendments in line with the decree will enter into force on May 2, 2018, and the applicable… »
Competition Board Decision on Price Discrimination
The Competition Board decided not to initiate an investigation concerning the Complaint of Emek Ecza Deposu for Abuse of Dominance by 15 Pharmaceutical Companies through Price Discrimination Update: The Competition Board concluded the preliminary investigation initiated after annulment of its decision dated 21.04.2011 and numbered 11-25 / 470-141 by the 13th Chamber of Council of State and decided that the companies subject of the complaint did not conducted any abusive… »
Use Requirements, Evidence of Use and Compulsory Licences
The new Industrial Property Law entered into force on January 10 2017. It repealed and replaced decree-laws pertaining, among other things, to the protection of patent rights. Decree-laws Before the new law, decree-laws had set out clear provisions regarding use requirements, whereby patentees were obliged to use their patents within three years of its publication in the relevant bulletin. They had also set out clear provisions regarding evidence of use, whereby patentees… »
European Patent Validation and Avoiding Double Patenting
Double patenting is prohibited in Turkey under Article 21 of the Implementing Regulations to the European Patents Convention. Under Article 21, if a European patent which designates Turkey and a national patent is granted to the same person, for the same subject matter and with the same application or priority date, the national patent lapses at the end of the opposition term set out in the European Patent Convention if: the European patent is maintained as a result of… »
2018 Legislative Predictions – Turkey
Turkey is now four months away from the deadline or fulfilling the compliance with the Data Protection Law, and in 2017 we were all busy with adopting the law as much as possible in the absence of well-established rules and practices, but in light of EU developments. It seems that our efforts will continue in 2018. During 2017, fundamental steps were taken for the purpose of privacy after the enactment of the Data Protection Law in April 2016. The data protection authority… »
Regulation on Data Controllers Registry
On December 30, 2017 the Regulation on Data Controllers’ Registry (“Regulation”) is announced at the Public Gazette and became effective as of January 01, 2018. This client alert aims to summarize the steps that must be taken by companies to comply with the Regulation and Data Protection Law (“Law”). What is a Data Controllers Registry? It is a platform that is open to public where data controllers’ are registered to and record the data processing they are engaged with. The… »
Short Marks Composed of Four Letters With Different Last Two Consonants Held to be Confusingly Similar
The Ritz Hotel Limited & The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC v Sami Yorulmaz, 27.09.2016, 2016-M-7845 (finalized early 2017). Re-Examination and Evaluation Board of the Turkish Patent and Trade Mark Office In this landmark decision, the Re-Examination and Evaluation Board (‘Board’) of the Turkish Patent and Trade Mark Office (‘Office’) concluded that, in some cases, one of the elements creating the mark can have a greater effect on average consumers. Thus these elements… »
Amendment of Regulation Regarding Employee Consent for Overtime
Overtime legislation Overtime in Turkey is regulated by Article 41 of the Labour Act (4857) and the Regulation on Overtime. According to the Labour Act, employee consent is required for overtime. Before the recent amendment was introduced, overtime was regulated by the Regulation on Overtime, under which employers were obliged to obtain the written consent of employees for overtime at the beginning of each year. However, the obligation of receiving employee consent annually… »
Life Sciences Newsletter, December 2017
Regulation on Processing of Health Data amended Dicle Doğan, Fatma Sevde Tan, Gun + Partners On 24 November 2017, the Ministry of Health issued amendments (Turkish language) to the Regulation on the Processing of Health Data and the Maintenance of Privacy. The Ministry of Health issued the Regulation on the Processing of Health Data and the Maintenance of Privacy (Regulation) on 22 October 2016, following the Law on Protection of Personal Data (Law) dated 7 April 2016. On 6… »
Turkey Chapter of Equivalence in Europe
A. Scope of protection 20.1 The scope of protection ofa patent is defineci in the various subparagraphs of article 89 of the lndustrial Property Code No. 6769 (‘iP Code’). Like most jurisdictions, the scope of protection is essentially determined by the claims, making use of the description and drawings far the interpretation thereof. it is important to note that this is not limited to a literal interpretation, although the scope cannot be extended to cover elements which… »