Insights
Developments on Signature Specimen and Signature Circular
Amendments Related to Signature Specimen The Amending Law Related to the Technology Development Zones and Certain Other Laws (the "Law No. 7263") was published in the Official Gazette on February 3, 2021 and entered into force on the same date. Article 22 of the Law No. 7263 amended Article 40 of the Turkish Commercial Code with respect to issue of signature specimen. In this regard, the amendment provides that signature samples of real person merchants and authorized… »
New Guidelines Published For Promoting Medical Devices
On 12 February 2021, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published new guidelines (Turkish language) for the implementation of regulation on sales, advertising and promotion of medical devices. The new guidelines introduce detailed provisions on implementing some of the significant amendments that were made to the Regulation on Sales, Advertising and Promotion of Medical Devices on 2 September 2020. Under the guidelines, in addition to advertising and promotional… »
Analysis on Corruption Perceptions Index 2020 in Times of Covid-19
2020 Corruption Perception Index (“CPI 2020”), Transparency International’s annual report reflecting the perception of corruption in public sector among 180 countries/territories all over the world, was announced on 28 January 2021. The contributions of country experts, non-governmental organisations and representatives of the business world generate the results in the CPI which measures up the countries/territories on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very… »
Amendments to the Turkish Commercial Code
The Law on the Prevention of the Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction No. 7262 (the “Law No. 7262”) was published in the Official Gazette No. 31351 on December 31, 2020. Although the Law in general sets forth the principles related to implementation of the sanctions of the United Nations Security Council regarding prevention of financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the same legislation also introduces certain amendments to the… »
Amendments to the Communiqué with respect to Capital Loss and Negative Equity
The Communiqué Amending the Communiqué on the Procedures and Principles Regarding Implementation of Article 376 of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 (the "Amending Communiqué”) was published in the Official Gazette on December 26, 2020, and entered into force on the same date. Article 376 of the Turkish Commercial Code (the “TCC”), which is also known as the provision for technical bankruptcy, provides mandatory measures to be taken by companies in the event of capital… »
List of Compassionate Use Programs Has Been Published
Compassionate Use Programs are designed for patients who have a serious or urgent, life-threatening disease whose treatment has been unsuccessful with available medicinal products licensed by the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (“Agency”) in Turkey and who cannot be included in the clinical trials on this subject. The Compassionate Use Program aims to provide the drug, which is not licensed in Turkey, but licensed or not in other countries, by the company that… »
Constitutional Court’s Recent Decision Regarding Inspection on Employee E-mails
Constitutional Court’s decision of 12 January 2021 concerning the application no. 2018/31036[1] discusses, once again, employer inspection on employees’ corporate e-mail accounts and the terminations relying on the collected correspondences, in scope of the right to protection of personal data and freedom of communication. In the said decision, the Constitutional Court found no violation as to the right to protection of personal data and freedom of communication, since the… »
A Look at Brand Enforcement During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Turkey’s first official diagnosis of COVID-19 was announced on March 11 2020. Since then, the country has experienced lockdowns, quarantines, travel bans and limited access to public services at various levels, depending on the progress of the pandemic. There were months where the legal and administrative bodies’ effectiveness was inversely proportional with the curve of pandemic, which affected all governmental agencies. Incidentally, brand enforcement activities were also… »
Court of Appeals Finds Likelihood of Confusion Between Short Marks in Surprising Decision
In a somewhat controversial decision (Case 2019/5262 E, 2020/3449 K, 2 July 2020, recently published), the Court of Appeals(11 Chamber) has considered the likelihood of confusion between short trademarks. Background The case was led before the Ankara Second IP Court (Merits No 2017/139 E, 2017/411 K) by a famous clothing company, Koton Mağazacılık Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi (‘Koton’), the owner of the distinctive logo depicted below: Koton requested the… »
Changes to Minimum Wage, Severance Payments and Administrative Fines for 2021
At the beginning of each year, the minimum wage, severance payments and administrative fines prescribed by the Labour Act are revised. On 1 January 2021 the changes for 2021 came into effect. Minimum wage In 2020 the monthly minimum wage rate was TL2,943 (gross). As of 1 January 2021, this has increased to TL3,577.50 (gross). The new rate applies from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. The minimum wage applies to all employees, regardless of age, industry and experience. The… »
Advertising Bans on Social Network Providers in Turkey and Next Steps
The new provisions concerning social network providers which were brought by the Law Amending the Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Internet Broadcasts and Prevention of Crimes Committed through Such Broadcasts, as also referred to as the Social Media Law in Turkey, entered into force on October 01, 2020. The new obligations and sanctions introduced for social network providers have remained a hot topic since the latest amendments to the Law No. 5651. Most recently, on… »
First Precautionary Injunction Granted in Turkey to Prevent Indirectuse of a Drug Patent
Much to rights holders’ dismay, Article 141 of the Turkish IP Code 6769, which lists acts that constitute patent infringement, does not include actions constituting indirect infringement. However, a provision in Article 86 does give patentees a right to prevent indirect use. This is similar to provisions in Article 60(2) of the UK Patents Act (1977) and Part 10 of the German Patent Law. Article 86, titled as ‘Prevention of the indirect use of the invention’, states that: The… »