Insights
New Reimbursement Regulation Published
On 25 August 2022, the Social Security Institution Reimbursement Regulation (Turkish language) was published in the Official Gazette numbered 31934. The regulation has replaced the previous Social Security Institution Reimbursement Regulation from 2016. The most important amendments are made on the Pharmaceutical Reimbursement Commission's (PRC) working procedures. The regulation includes new definitions for therapeutic reference (TR) group, biosimilar medicinal product… »
Business Card Misuse Considered Grounds For Termination in Court Ruling
Introduction It is common practice for companies to provide business credit cards to certain employees who have managerial responsibilities and/or make frequent payments on behalf of the company in scope of their duties. It is also common for these companies to encounter situations where employees will use business credit cards for personal expenses either intentionally or by mistake. In cases where the employers suspect that an employee has used their business credit card… »
Advertisement Containing Blurred Images of Rivals’ Products is Banned
The Advertisement Board rendered an important decision regarding comparative advertising practice on August 9, 2022. The decision pertains to the advertisement published in the catalogue offered to consumers monthly by a globally-known cosmetics and fragrance company which compared two of its fragrances with the products of two world-famous fragrance brands. The advertisement published in the catalogue of the advertiser regarding its products contains the expressions of “It… »
Having Valid Trademark Registration No Longer Creates Immunity Against Infringement Claims
Bakırköy 1st Civil IP Court, in an invalidation action against a registered trademark where trademark infringement and unfair competition is also claimed due to use of the challenged registered trademark, decided to accept the case and ordered for invalidation of the challenged trademark registration as per senior trademark rights of the plaintiff, also decided for determination and revocation of the trademark infringement and unfair competition caused due to use of the… »
New Regulation on Drug Reimbursement has been Published
The Social Security Institution’s (“SSI”) Regulation on Drug Reimbursement (“Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette no. 31934, dated 25.08.2022. With this new Regulation, the Social Security Institution Drug Reimbursement Regulation dated 10.02.2016 was abolished. The most important amendments that came into force with the Regulation are the introduction of new definitions, new provisions regarding the prioritization of the applications for the reimbursement of… »
A Milestone Decision on the Patentability of Second Medical Use Claims
As per the EPC definition, a substance or composition that is already known to have been used in a “first medical use” may still be patentable for any second or further use, provided that said use is novel and inventive. Even though the first medical use was the subject of patent protection within the EPC 1973, this convention did not regulate that the substance could be subject to a patent in different medical uses (second/further medical use). While there was no regulation… »
Recent Case Highlights Lack of Harmonisation Between Courts’ Approach and PTO’s Practice
Beiersdorf opposed an application for NEVAYA based on its NIVEA trademarks, alleging a likelihood of confusion and thewell-known status of its marks The PTO partially accepted the opposition based on the likelihood of confusion argument, but rejected the well-known status argument A key issue was whether the well-known status argument could be asserted in an action for the cancellation of the PTO’sdecision, even though no appeal was filed against the refusal of such argument… »
Recent Legal Updates Regarding NFTs First Preliminary Injunction Regarding NFTs Issued by a Court in Turkey
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), which are among the hottest topics as of 2021 are discussed at court decisions in various jurisdictions, and similarly in Turkey, Istanbul 3rd Civil Intellectual Property Court (“IP Court”) rendered a preliminary injunction regarding NFTs on June 21, 2022. The subject of the dispute pertains to exploitation of the portrait of the late Cem Karaca, who is an artist, songwriter and composer with a legendary reputation in Anatolian Rock music. In the… »
Draft Guideline on Processing Genetic Data
The Personal Data Protection Authority (the “DPA”) published the Draft Guideline on the Issues for Consideration about Processing of Genetic Data (the “Draft Guideline”) on August 24, 2022. The DPA indicated the importance of genetic data and emphasized that the information acquired by processing genetic data, which is data of special nature as per Law on Protection of Personal Data (“DPL”), is extremely sensitive and might have results that can affect the entire society. For… »
Substantial Amendments to the Regulation on Distance Contracts
Several amendments were made to the Law on the Protection of the Consumer (the “Law”) on April 1, 2022, most of which will come into force on October 1, 2022. We have evaluated the amendments made to the Law comprehensively.[1] In line with those amendments, substantial additions and amendments were also made in the Regulation on Distance Contracts (the “Regulation”) as published in the Official Gazette dated August 23, 2022 and numbered 31932. Many of the amendments to the… »
Consequences of Decisions in Cases Requiring Technical Expertise Without Expert Examination in Administrative Trials
Introduction Article 31 of the Administrative Procedure Code No. 2577 (“APC”) sets out the cases to which Civil Procedure Code No. 6100 (“CPC”) shall apply where IYUK contains no provisions. As per the referred provision, CPC shall apply to expert examinations. According to Article 266 of the CPC, courts decide to obtain expert opinion in cases where the resolution require special or technical information other than law, ex-officio or upon request of either party. However… »
Similarity Assessment of House Marks
The issue of how the similarity assessment will be carried out in the signs containing house marks is discussed in the Trademark Examination Guideline of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, by providing several precedents on this topic. House mark, also referred to as the main, parent or umbrella trademark, is, as the name suggests, an upper concept that serves as a roof to bring together the families of trademarks created by companies. House marks are signs that have… »