Proposed Changes to Copyright Law
The Turkish Intellectual and Artistic Works Law No 5846 (the Copyright Law) is the law regulating copyright protection in Turkey. Law 5846 was first enacted in 1951. It has been amended several times in 1995, 2001 and more recently in 2004 to comply with the requirements of international treaties. Since November 2016, a Draft Law has been prepared amending Law 5846 and the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism has recently published the Draft Law, including the proposed… »
New code of conduct for trademark attorneys enters into force
The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office recently published the Regulation on the Code of Conduct and Discipline of Patent Attorneys and Trademark Attorneys, with the aim of regulating: the rules and procedures applicable to the conduct of patent and trademark attorneys; l the Disciplinary Board of Patent and Trademark Attorneys; the methods to be used to detect acts requiring a disciplinary penalty; and other disciplinary issues. In Turkey, the rules on patent and trademark… »
Life Sciences Newsletter, June 2017
New system for medical devices launchedDicle Doğan and Merve Çimen, Gün + Partners >On 2 June 2017, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency announced a new electronic system for registration of medical devices (and cosmetic products) in Turkey. The new system, called the Product Tracking System (UTS), replaces the Turkish Pharmaceutical and Medical Device National Information Database (TITUBB) and as of 12 June 2017, companies have started to use the new system… »
The Regulation on the Code of Conduct and Discipline of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office
The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office has published the Regulation on the Code of Conduct and Discipline of Patent and Trademark Attorneys on May 17, 2017. Up to now, there has been no regulation directly referring to Code of Conduct and discipline of Patent and Trademark Attorneys. The rules for the attorneys were firstly regulated by the Law of the Establishment and Functions of Turkish Patent Institute no. 5000 dated November 06, 2003; however this law used to regulate… »
A new adventure for the intellectual property system in Turkey: IP Code No 6769
The Industrial Property Code No 6769 (the ‘IP Code’), which was prepared by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (the ‘Office’), and abolished previous intellectual property (IP)-related decree laws was accepted by Parliament on 22 December 2016 and entered into force on 10 January 2017 following its publication in the Official Gazette.In the 1990s, Turkey conducted official negotiations with the European Union (EU) in order to become a member of the Customs Union. Within… »
Turkish Trade Mark Office protects New Zealand’s famous rugby team’s The Kiwis trade mark
The Turkish Trade Mark Office has allowed an opposition based on genuine rights obtained via prior use of the opponent’s trade mark and worldwide registrations although that trade mark is not used in Turkey for the relevant goods and services. The opponent is the owner of the New Zealand’s famous rugby team (the New Zealand Kiwis), commonly known as “The Kiwis”, and has trade mark registrations for “The Kiwis” in many countries. Turkey however is not one of them and the… »
Automatic enrolment in private pension plans system
Introduction A long-awaited legal arrangement on employees’ automatic enrolment in private pension plans by their employers was introduced into Turkish law by way of an amendment law published on August 25 2016. The amendment law adds new provisions to the Private Pension Savings and Investment System Act 2001. Accordingly, employees (including public officials) under the age of 45 will be enrolled in a private pension plan with a pension agreement between the employer and a… »
Turkey’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranking falls
Introduction On January 25 2017 Transparency International published the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index, which reflects non-governmental organisations’ and business world representatives’ perception of public sector corruption and ranks countries on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The results are based on 13 research initiatives conducted by 12 international organisations in 176 countries.(1) Turkey came 75th out of 176 countries (nine places lower… »
Büyük Güç Büyük Sorumluluk Getirir
Does the ‘part included in the whole’ principle apply to services under Class 35?
The Court of Appeal recently issued a decision stating that although a trademark application for retail services of certain goods in Class 35 was similar to a senior trademark – the scope of which was indicated with general phrases such as “retail services of all/various goods” in Class 35 – the application could not be rejected on the grounds of confusing similarity unless the owner of the senior trademark proved that it was genuinely used (or at the very least, serious… »
Life Sciences Newsletter, May 2017
Ministry of Health to follow EU Medical Devices Regulations Bentley James Yaffe and Nehir Aydeniz, Gün + Partners Following the EU’s adoption of Regulations (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices and 2017/746 on in vitro diagnostic medical devices of 5 April 2017, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency announced in May that the two new regulations would also be adopted in Turkey. The announcement stated that the regulations would be published as nationally applicable… »
Turkey: Draft Regulation on Data Controllers’ Registry
On May 5th, 2017 the Turkish Data Protection Authority published the Draft Regulation on Data Controllers’ Registry (“Draft Regulation”) for comments to be submitted. The Draft Regulation is based on Article 16 of the Law on the Protection of Personal Data (“Law”) which came into force last year on April 7th, which states under the supervision of the Board of Protection of Personal Data (“Board”), Data Controllers Registry (“Registry”) will be kept by the Presidency of the… »