Scope of Employers That Benefit From Employment Protection Provisions Has Been Widened
The number of employees in an associated company abroad, must be considered when determining whether an employer has more or less than 30 employees, for the purposes of employment protection under the Turkish Labour Act. Article 18 of the Turkish Labour Act provides employment protection for employees who have been working for at least six months at a workplace which has at least 30 employees. In these circumstances, an employer must have a valid reason to terminate an… »
Court Clarifies Meaning of ‘Identical’ and ‘Indistinguishably Similar’ Under Article 7/1(b)
In a recent decision (merit number 2014/15516, decision number 2015/327, January 14 2015), the 11th Chamber of the Court of Appeal has upheld a decision of the court of first instance (Ankara Fourth Civil Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights, merit number 2014/17, decision number 2014/136, June 11 2014) in which the court had cancelled a decision of the Re-Examination and Evaluation Board of the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI). The board had rejected the… »
IP Court Applies European Patent Convention in National Invalidity Proceedings
The general practice of the Turkish IP Court is to continue with invalidation proceedings brought against the Turkish validation of a European patent even where the patent is still under opposition or appeal before the European Patent Office (EPO). Although it is obvious why it may not be effective for a local court to evaluate the validity of the patent before the EPO has issued its final decision, the Turkish IP Court has based this practice on the length of EPO proceedings… »
Court of Appeal Recognises Well-known Status of Sheraton Device Marks
The Court of Appeal held that the SHERATON device marks are well known in the relevant sector; it was not possible for consumers to recognise that the trademarks belonged to two different entities, and consumers could believe that the SOYIÇ HOTEL mark belonged to the plaintiff. The court further held that the defendant was attempting to benefit unfairly from the plaintiff’s trademarks. Upon rejection by the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) of the appeal filed against the… »
Turkey’s Internet Restrictions: A hindrance to IT hub ambitions?
Uğur Aktekin and Bentley James Yaffe of Gün + Partners examine the recent changes to Turkish Internet Law and the potential impact on the country’s IT business environment Recent years have seen internet usage greatly increase throughout Turkey, reaching 40 million broadband internet subscribers in the third quarter of 2014. With a young and dynamic population, increased internet penetration and a rise in the number of smart devices, Turkey is in a prime position to increase… »
Alternative Reimbursement Models for Healthcare Services
Introduction Alternative models for the reimbursement of health services have been a common phenomenon in Europe for many years. Countries have adopted diverse policies in this regard comprising, for instance, paybacks, price-volume agreements and economic evaluations. With the enactment of Law 6552 in September 2014, alternative reimbursement models have also become a hot topic in the Turkish healthcare industry. Background Law 6552 amended Article 73 of the Social Security… »
The Turkish Question: Anti-Corruption Legislation or Enforcement, Which Needs to Change?
In December 2014, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) took an important initiative by publishing its very first Foreign Bribery Report. Examining 427 bribery cases, The Report revealed that only 17 out of 41 members of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention concluded bribery investigations with court decisions over the past 15 years. Such a small number clearly presented the need for better enforcement of anti-corruption laws worldwide. While such… »
Marks may be Confusingly Similar Even Where Common Element is Generic/descriptive
Within the context of an invalidation action, the Ankara Third IP Court has held that the figurative trademark NEO CARE (depicted below), which covers goods in Class 5 of the Nice Classification, was confusingly similar to the trademark NEXCARE, which also covers goods in Class 5. The court considers that the device element of the NEO CARE mark was not distinctive and that the main element of the mark was its word element. Although this is not explicitly mentioned in the… »
The New E-Commerce Law Will Take Effect Soon In Turkey
The Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce (the “E-Commerce Law”) has recently been approved by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and published in the Official Gazette on 05.11.2014. The E-Commerce Law will enter into force by 01.05.2015. The E-Commerce Law has been enacted in parallel with the EU Directive on E-Commerce (2000/31/EC). The major provisions to be underlined in the E-Commerce Law are related to commercial electronic communication. Currently… »
Good Practice for Asset Recovery from White Collar Crime
Introduction A recent corruption case involving embezzlement, forgery and bribery by the chairman of a non-profit organisation provides an example of the new asset recovery practice that the Fifth Judicial Reform Package (February 21 2014) has introduced. During the criminal investigation and proceedings, the assets generated by the suspect’s crimes were confiscated successfully and in a timely manner. Further, the prosecutors attached importance to redeeming the value of the… »
International Arbitration, Turkey Chapter, First Edition
Introduction International arbitration and domestic arbitration are subject to different legislation under Turkish law. The main legislation regulating international arbitration is the International Arbitration Law numbered 4686, which is essentially based on the UNCITRAL Model Law. The Civil Procedural Law numbered 6100 regulates domestic arbitration and it is not applicable to international arbitration, unless stated otherwise in International Arbitration Law. Turkey is a… »
Graft Probe Takes Interesting Turn
Introduction The graft probe of December 2013, which involved bribery and corruption allegations against four ministers of state and their family members (for further details please see “Government rocked by waves of corruption”) was concluded at the beginning of 2015 with the dismissal of charges and the release of suspects, despite significant criticism and concerns. However, its impact continues to dominate the news agenda in Turkey, especially as the investigations have… »