Insights
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… »
Bolar-Like Hurdle for Generics
Precis: The judgment of the Ankara IP court in a case involving a marketing authorisation application demonstrates that an exemption similar to the so-called Bolar exemption can apply to Gx pharmaceutical companies. Background The so-called Bolar exemption was introduced into Turkish law on 22 June 2004 with an amendment to Patent Decree Law No 551 and was maintained in the IP Code that entered into force on 10 January 2017. Article 85/3(c) of the IP Code rules that… »
Drug Reimbursement Practices
We come across constantly on the street, on the Internet, in the cafés when we go to buy coffee with donation campaigns carried out to cover the costs of patient treatments. Although it is essential for the state to cover the health costs in accordance with the constitutional principle of the social state, we encounter with more news of uncovered treatment costs. For example, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, the disease known colloquially as SMA, results from the inability of… »
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… »
Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain Technologies and Their Impacts on Brand Protection
In recent years, developments in digitalization have started to make crucial impacts on many fields, including intellectual property, from creation to monetization and enforcement levels. Brand owners and brand protection professionals are heeding updates in artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain-based technologies such as smart contracts, metaverses and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with total market trading volume of approximately $12.13 billion only for the first… »
Regulation on Pharmaceutical Warehouses and Products Available in Pharmaceutical Warehouses Published
On 15 June 2022, the Regulation on Pharmaceutical Warehouses and Products Available in Pharmaceutical Warehouses (Turkish language) (Regulation) was published in the Official Gazette numbered 31867. The Regulation abrogated the prior regulation dated 20 October 1999 and is now in line with Directive 2001/83/EC on medicinal products for human use. Pharmaceutical warehouses are defined as establishments where one or all of the activities of procurement, storage, sale… »
SSI Publishes Amendment to the Alternative Reimbursement Regulation Upon Annulment of the State Council
In the cancellation action filed by the Turkish Pharmacist Union against some of the provisions of the Alternative Reimbursement Regulation (“Regulation”), the 10th Chamber of the Council of State decided to annul the attacked provisions of the Regulation on the ground that the Regulation was issued by the Social Security Institute (“SSI”) without obtaining prior opinion of the Ministry of Health. Upon the service of the court decision to SSI, due to the requirement to comply… »
COVID-19: Guideline on Risk Management Plans for Vaccines Published
On 24 March 2022, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (Agency) published on its official website the Guideline on Essential Requirements for Risk Management Plans of COVID-19 Vaccines (Turkish language). The guideline is prepared as an attachment to Module IV of the Guideline on Good Pharmacovigilance Practices. The guideline aims to provide detailed explanations on the procedures and requirements that marketing authorisation holders should complete for… »