A Better Judiciary to Realise Turkey’s Potential
Mehmet Gün, senior partner at Gün + Partners, examines the difficulties facing the Turkish judiciary and how essential a first-class justice system is to Turkey’s progress In the 1980s, Turkey undertook significant liberalisation of its national economy. Since then, liberalisation has increasingly become a pivotal part of the international economy. Between the 1980s and 2000, Turkey learnt some very important lessons in the form of economic crises and was saved by… »
A Profession in Irons
Since significant liberalisation of its national economy in the 1980s, Turkey, has become a pivotal part of the international economy and weathered the economic crises between the 1980s and 2000. Turkey’s exports continue to break records, while trade deficit levels continue to drop. Commensurate with her unique strategic position, Turkey is busy enhancing her international diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, unleashing enormous opportunities, not only for the… »
Constitutional Court Annuls Article 42/1(c) of Decree-Law 556
Following an application for the annulment of Article 42/1(c) of Decree-Law 556 on the ground of unconstitutionality, referred by the Fourth IP Court of Istanbul, the Turkish Constitutional Court has ordered the annulment of that provision (Decision 2013/147 E 2014/75 K, April 9 2014). The decision of the Constitutional Court entered into force upon its publication in the Official Gazette No 29070 on July 24 2014.Article 42/1(c) of Decree-Law 556 reads as follows: “A… »
Arbitrating Intellectual Property Disputes
§11.01 INTRODUCTION Intellectual property rights (IPRs (IPR in the singular meaning)) have become the most valuable assets in the modern times of the global economy. The strength and financial importance of IPRs has also been well recognized in Turkey since 1995, the year of ‘Turkish IPR revolution’; the Turkish legal system relating to IPRs was amended to ensure conformity with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)1 and other… »
EPIAS: A Review of the New Energy Market Operating Company
Introduction In March 2013 a new Electricity Market Law was enacted, with the aim of improving energy regulation and attracting greater investment in the electricity market. One of the highlights was the introduction of EPIAS, the new energy market operating company, which would establish and operate an electricity stock exchange, among other activities. EPIAS was initially planned to commence operations in October 2013, but it took longer than expected to lay the groundwork… »
E-health Services: a New Era
E-health services are proving increasingly popular; but many questions remain to be answered before their use becomes mainstream, including in relation to their scope, safety and regulation. Scope and aim The World Health Organisation has defined ‘e-health’ as the provision of health resources and healthcare through electronic means. The objectives of e-health services are to increase the efficiency of healthcare services by reducing costs and saving time. In this regard, the… »
Public-Private Partnerships in the Healthcare Sector
Introduction In February 2014 Minister of Health Mehmet Müezzinoğlu made the following announcement: “We aim to show the brand value of health in Turkey to the neighbouring region comprising a population of 1 billion; and increase healthcare tourism revenue from $2.5 billion to $10 billion in the next five years. Here we hope to succeed in establishing centres providing healthcare services to the people of our country and to our future by combining intelligence capital… »
Amendments to The Turkish Internet Broadcasts and Publication Law and The Controversial Application of The New Provisions
The main legislation in Turkey applying to information broadcast and published online is the Law numbered 5651 on the Regulation of Broadcasts and Publications Made Online and Regarding the Countering of Crimes Committed via These Broadcasts and Publications (Internet Publication Law) which came into effect upon publication on May 23, 2007. The Internet Publication Law introduced procedures for applying blocking orders to Internet Web sites that included content that… »
WIPOs International Registration System: What Now, What Next?
Turkey adopted the World Intellectual Property Organization’s(WI PO) international registration system in 1999. Ugur Aktekin and Pinar Arikan in Istanbul examine the successes and failures of the sys-tem since its implementation 15 years ago. Historically, the protection of trademark rights has been dependent upon territorial registration. International brands and businesses have obliged to protect their trademark rights on an individual country- by-country basis, registering… »
Use of Earlier Mark in Later Mark Does Not Always Result in Confusing Similarity
The Turkish Court of Appeals has reiterated its established precedent that the examination of confusing similarity must take into account the overall impression conveyed by the trademarks to the relevant public. In December 2007 Ital Food Industry AD filed a trademark application with the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) for the sign reproduced below in Class 30 of the Nice Classification. The mark consisted of words in both Latin and Cyrillic characters. Turkish company Eti… »
Turkey: Turkish Patent Office Rejects A Trademark Application Due To Incorporating The Phrase “Cubano” Amongst Other Reasons
In August 2010, PC DESIGN SARL filed an application no. 2010/52790 for “cubano original eau de toilette natural spray + device” before the TPI for the goods specified in classes 03 and 33. HAVANA CLUB HOLDING S.A. (“HAVANA CLUB”) filed an opposition against the application on the grounds that the application is not registrable in accordance with Article 7/1 (c) of Decree Law, given that “it was not distinctive in the commercial industry, designated geographical origin and… »
Another Step Forward at the Turkish Electricity Market: The New Electricity Market Law
The electricity market has been one of the most active and attractive markets for investors in the last years in Turkey. With the enactment of the previous Electricity Market Law in 2001 (the Previous EML), private investment became the principie, instead of being an exception in the market. This immediately started to show positive effects in attracting private investment – 10 years ago the private sector represented a mere 38% of the electricity market, which increased to… »