Insights
New Turkish Domain Name System Creates a Situation in Need of Resolution
Nic.tr (.tr Domain Name Management), which was established under the auspices of Middle East Technical University, has been managing .tr domain names and dispute resolution processes related to these domain names since 1991. However, under Article 35 of Law No. 5809 on Electronic Communications and the Internet Domain Names Regulation, TRABIS (.tr Network Information System), established by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, became operational on… »
Protection of Websites Under Turkish Law
Websites that are part of our daily lives consist of many elements such as webpages, the user interface, computer software, databases, and servers. Although there is no set of rules specifically applicable to them under Turkish law, their constituent elements and their content can be conferred legal protection if they meet the requirements of existing legislation. The question of whether websites are conferred additional legal protection separate from their constituent… »
Legislative Proposal on the Amendment of the Law on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Preparations No. 1262 and Certain Laws
The Legislative Proposal on the Amendment of the Law on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Preparations No. 1262, Certain Laws and Decree Law No. 663 (“the Legislative Proposal”) dated March 20, 2023, and numbered 2/5006 is an omnibus bill having some amendment offers regarding the regulating legislation of the health sector. The Legislative Proposal suggests defining the obligation of registration and notification to the Drug Tracking System at the level of the law, updating the… »
Notes from the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index for Turkey
On 23 January 2020, Transparency International announced the much-awaited results of the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index (the “CPI 2019”), which reflects the perception of country experts, non-governmental organisations and representatives of the business world of corruption in public sector. The CPI 2019 scores 180 countries and territories on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The results, unfortunately, did not come as too much of a surprise for Turkey… »
Pricing of Pharmaceuticals and the Fixed Exchange Rate
Pharmaceutical prices in Turkey have always been a controversial issue. The prices of medicines for sale are set under the Decision on Pricing of Human Medicinal Products (“Decision”) and the Communiqué on the Pricing of Human Medicinal Products (“Communiqué”) of September 29, 2017, issued by the Ministry, which is vested with the competencies to regulate this area. The Decision provides a reference pricing system, whereby the least expensive ex-factory price in one of the… »
A Precedent on 3D Trademarks’ Enforcement
In 2022, the Turkish Court of Cassation (“TCoC”) rendered a decision evaluating that the use of a 3D trademark (shown below) as bag-locks on counterfeit goods infringed the trademark holder’s rights and the accused should have known that this 3D shape is a trademark. The case subject to the precedent decision had started with the 3D trademark owner submitting a criminal complaint by arguing that their 3D trademark was used on counterfeit products. After the case turned into… »
New Regulation from ICTA on Social Network Providers
The definition of "Social Network Provider" was first introduced in the amendments made to the Law numbered 5651 on the Regulation of Internet Broadcasts and Prevention of Crimes Committed through Such Broadcasts (“Internet Law”) that came into force on October 01, 2020. These amendments introduced several regulations for social network providers. The Information and Communication Technologies Authority ("ICTA") initially decided the scope and application of the regulations… »
Turkish Court of Cassation Rules in CERAN v CERAMO Case
In a recent case, the General Assembly of Civil Chambers of the Turkish Court of Cassation ruled that although the defendant argued that the earlier trade mark CERAN originates from the word “ceramic”, this is not the case and CERAN functions as a trade mark for Turkish consumers. Therefore it can block the latter trade mark CERAMO from being registered for similar goods. History of the dispute The dispute dates back to 2015. Schott opposed the Turkish trade mark application… »
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Trademarks
NFTs have been significantly popular in 2022 from a trademark law perspective like many other fields. As many more businesses in various industries have carried their trademarks to Metaverse and launched NFT collections in 2022, the number of trademark applications covering NFTs has significantly and proportionally increased .[1] To satisfy the high demand and urging need caused by this trend, European Union Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”) published a guideline that… »
Regulation on Hearings Through Video and Audio Transmission
Introduction Law 7251 on the Amendment of the Civil Procedure Code and Certain Laws entered into force upon publication in the Official Gazette (31199) on 28 July 2020. Article 17 of the Law 7251 amended Article 149 of the Civil Procedure Code (“CPC”) 6100 to allow courts to conduct remote hearings through video and audio transmission either upon the parties' request or ex officio under certain circumstances. The amendment further provided that the principles and procedures… »
A New Era in .Tr Extended Domain Names - and a New Issue Waiting for a Solution
Nic.tr (".tr" Domain Name Management), established under the auspices of Middle East Technical University ("METU"), has been managing ".tr" domain names and dispute resolution processes related to these domain names since 1991. According to Article 35 of the Electronic Communications Law No. 5809 and the Internet Domain Names Regulation, TRABIS (".tr" Network Information System), established by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority ("BTK"), became… »
Law on the Protection of Personal Data and Its Application
On April 7, 2016, the Law on the Protection of Personal Data (“Law”) came into force in Turkey as a special law regarding the protection of personal data. The Law is a step towards harmonising Turkish legislation with EU legislation, and it was prepared based on Directive 95/46/EC on data protection (“Data Protection Directive”). Although the Law is very similar to the Data Protection Directive, certain principles of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) were also… »