Insights
IP Rights Can Also Protect Public Health and Safety
Gün + Partners recently acted in a case that started as an ordinary anti-counterfeiting case, but which was quickly identified as something much bigger. When it turned out that some fake ‘fire-resistant’ glass was not fire-resistant at all, public health and safety became a major concern as well as trademark infringement. The case began after we received a picture of some fire-resistant glass from a global manufacturer of these products. The logo trademark was simply printed… »
Amendments on the Communiqué Concerning the Mergers and Acquisitions Calling for the Authorization of the Competition Board
Merger and Acquisitions of 2021 Being 309 merger and acquisition notifications were notified to and reviewed by the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) in 2021. TCA has granted authorization to 277 of them, conditional authorization to 3 of them, and has found that 29 of them are not subject to an authorization at all. It is seen that 37 of the merger and acquisition notifications examined in 2021, were related to the chemical and mining sectors, 32 of them were related to… »
New Guidelines on Authorisation and Packaging of Homeopathic Medicinal Products
On 24 December 2021, the Regulation on Licensing of Homeopathic Medicinal Products (Regulation) was published in the Official Gazette. Pursuant to the Regulation, on 15 March 2022 the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published the Guidelines on Licensing of Homeopathic Medicinal Products (Turkish language) and the Guidelines on Packaging and Product Information, Readability and Tracking of Homeopathic Medicinal Products (Turkish language). The Guidelines regulate the… »
Guidelines on Licensing Allergen Products Published
On 9 March 2022, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (Agency) published on its official website the Guidelines on Licensing of Allergen Products (Turkish language). The Guidelines were prepared in accordance with the Regulation on Licensing of Human Medicinal Products (Regulation) which was recently published (see Legal update, New Regulation on licensing of medicinal products for human use (Turkey)). The Regulation divided the abridged marketing authorisation… »
Pharmaceutical Licensing Regulation Harmonized with EU Legislation
The new Regulation on Licensing of the Human Medicinal Products (“Regulation”) prepared by Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (“Agency”) has entered into force following its publication in the official Gazette numbered 31686 and dated December 11, 2021. The purpose of the Regulation is reflecting processes already existing in the Agency’s practice which were not regulated under the Regulation on Licensing of the Human Medicinal Products dated 2005 (“previous… »
Constitutional Court’s Last Judgement on Inspection of Employees' Correspondences
With the judgement dated 28 December 2021 and numbered 2018/34584[1], the Constitutional Court discussed the employer’s examination of the employees’ correspondence sent through the messaging program called WhatsApp and the termination of the employment contracts based on these correspondences, within the scope of the right to privacy and freedom of communication. In the said decision, the Constitutional Court ruled that the employer's obtaining of the contents of the… »
Alternative Remedy for Anticounterfeiting: Complaint Before Advertisement Board
In its recent decisions[1], the Advertisement Board imposed sanctions against the advertising of counterfeit products that were sold and advertised as genuine products on various websites Instagram pages, according to Law No. 6502 on Protection of the Consumer (“Consumer Protection Law”) and the Regulation on Commercial Advertisement and Unfair Commercial Practices (“Advertising Regulation”). The complaints subject to these decisions are based on the fact that the… »
Leveraging Civil and Criminal Routes in Trademark Infringement Cases
Five years have passed since the adoption of Turkey’s new Intellectual Property Code (“IP Code”), which annulled the Trademark Decree-Law no. 556 (“D-L”) back in January 2017. This piece of legislation introduced several changes to the trademark law. Some changes were expected for a long time, whereas some were surprising even to IP practitioners who were directly involved in preparing the draft of the IP Code. It would be fair to say that the Office and the courts almost… »
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Trademarks
Non-Fungible Token (NFT), which we have heard more often since the beginning of 2021, is a digital asset that uses blockchain technology and mostly operates within Ethereum. NFT is a digital token that cannot be exchanged or replaced and may represent many tangible objects in the real world, such as songs, artworks, GIFs, virtual game items, videos, cartoons. NFT is technically not the asset itself, whereas it is a metadata file that contains the unique combination of Token… »
Recent Developments & Turkey’s Position on SEPs: Navigating The Technology-Driven World
Standard essential patent (SEP) appears to be the new buzzword of patent law considering the upward trend in patent litigation arising from SEPs. Indeed, the continuous technological advancement supports the creation of SEPs so this trend is likely to continue in the near future. Accordingly, SEPs is a concept arising from the interaction between patent rights, which provide exclusive use of an invention and ‘standards’ aimed at the widespread and mandatory use of this… »
Additional Price Difference in Public Tenders and Assignment of Tender Agreements
A provisional article was added to the Public Procurement Agreements Law (the “Law”) on 19.01.2022 in order to provide an additional price difference upon the request of the contractors and to enable the contractors to assign their tender agreements with the approval of the relevant tender authority for certain procurements of goods/services and construction works. The purpose of this additional provision was to eliminate the negative implications of disruptions on supply… »
Turkish Radio Television Supreme Board Sanctioned Scenes Relating to Stereotypes of Virginity
In its decision numbered 21 rendered at the meeting dated 28 April 2021 and numbered 2021/17; the Radio Television Supreme Board (“Board”) inspected a TV series called “Camdaki Kız” (the girl in the window) broadcasted in a national channel in Turkey and made remarkably critical evaluations for the scenes relating to stereotypes of virginity. The scenes and dialogues showing a mother forcing her daughter to wear a virginity corset throughout her all life starting from her… »