Insights
Roundtable Meeting on Post-Grant Patent Opposition Before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office
THE FIRST DETAILED INFORMATION WAS PROVIDED REGARDING THE POST-GRANT OPPOSITION SYSTEM BEFORE THE EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE (“EPO”) FICPI-Turkey held the ninth of its traditional roundtable meetings at Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (“Türk Patent”) on 13 December 2019. The meeting was moderated by Selin Sinem Erciyas, who is the Vice President of the Board of Directors of FICPI-Turkey and Serkan Özkan, who is an Intellectual Property Expert at Türk Patent. The post-grant… »
Guidelines on Importing Clinical Research Products
Dicle Doğan and Fatma Sevde Tan, Gun + Partners On 27 February 2020, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published Guidelines on the Import of Research Products to be used in Clinical Research (Turkish language). Pursuant to the Regulation on Clinical Research published in the Official Gazette dated 13 April 2013 and numbered 28617, permission from the agency is required for the manufacturing and import of products to be used in clinical research conducted in… »
Euro Exchange Rate for Drug Prices Updated for 2020
Dicle Doğan and Fatma Sevde Tan, Gun + Partners On 18 February 2020, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published an announcement (Turkish language), stating that the Price Evaluation Commission had raised the Euro exchange rate to be used in pricing of the drugs to TRY3.8155 for 2020. The new exchange rate became effective on 19 February 2020. By way of background, the Euro exchange rate used for approving drug prices in Turkey is determined as per the… »
No Separate Claim for Interest Needed When Increasing Value of Claim in Dispute
On 24 May 2019 the Supreme Court General Assembly on the Unification of Judgments (General Assembly) concluded that the plaintiff in a partial monetary action need not reiterate its claim for interest when increasing the value of the claim if it claimed interest for its principal receivables in the plaint petition and the claim of interest will automatically apply for the amount which is increased later on (Decision 2017/8 E, 2019/3 K). Background Partial claim actions are… »
Is a Minor Difference From a Patented Range Enough to Win an Infringement Case?
There is no explicit rule in Turkish law that covers patent infringement in cases where a product possesses a minor difference from a patented range. Further, Turkish High Court decisions have not shed any direct light on this matter. However, there have been several infringement actions brought before IP courts, wherein a rights holder has alleged that a product, which varies slightly from its patent’s scope of protection, is considered to be infringing. Thus far, the… »
Health Claims for Anti-Coronavirus Products in Advertising
As coronavirus cases continue to spread in Turkey and around the globe, ads for food supplements and food claiming to prevent the effects of the virus have been rampant in every media including TV, radio and internet. Legal authorities competent for ruling and supervising health claims in advertisements launched investigations since some advertisements of food supplements were considered to be unlawful, some food supplements advertised are not even authorized for sale and… »
COVID-19 Suspended Judicial Terms
The Law on Amendment of Certain Laws No. 7226 entered into force upon publication in the Repeated Official Gazette dated 26 March 2020 and numbered 31080. With the Law No. 7226, the procedural terms will be suspended until 30 April 2020 in order to prevent any loss of rights in regard to trials, due to the measures taken for COVID-19 outbreak. In this respect; Any and all terms in scope of the acquisition, use or extinction of a right, including the terms for filing… »
Impact of Coronavirus on Contracts and Force Majeure
The Course of Coronavirus Outbreak and Its Economic Impacts Coronavirus, first seen in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and causing Covid-19 (coronavirus disease), has spread to all continents except Antarctica and 127 countries in as little as three months, and as of the date of this article, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide has exceeded 134.000 while the number of deaths has exceeded 4.900. On March 12, 2020, World Health Organization declared coronavirus… »
Key Developments and Predictions for Media and Advertising Law in Turkey
In Turkey, the central piece of legislation on advertising law compliance issues is Turkish Consumer Protection Law numbered 6502 (“CPL”), the Regulation on Commercial Advertisements and Unfair Commercial Practices (the “Advertising Regulation”), prepared in line with the CPL and Broadcasting Law No. 6112. Broadcast media advertising is ruled and supervised by the RTUK, which is an autonomous and impartial public legal entity. The RTUK regulates and supervises the radio… »
Coronavirus Support Package Announced on 18 March 2020 and Its Effects on Sectoral Basis
After first seen in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, the coronavirus -which leads to Covid-19 disease- has spread to 192 countries in only three months. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has exceeded 340,000 globally with the number of deaths exceeding over 14,000 as of 23 March 2020. The first case of coronavirus in Turkey was detected on 11 March 2020. The number of cases in Turkey had increased to 1236 in the following 13 days with 30 citizens losing their lives due… »
Key Developments and Predictions for Copyright Law in Turkey
Copyright protection is granted under Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works No. 5846 (the “LIAW”) in Turkey. The LIAW entered into force on January 01, 1952, and was amended in the years of 1983, 1995, 2001, 2004, 2007 and, lastly, 2008. The Draft Bill on the Amendment of the Code (the “Draft Bill”) was published for public opinion on May 05, 2017; however, there is currently no indication that this Draft Bill will enter into force in the near future. On the other hand, the… »
Consultation on New Draft Regulation on Promotion of Medical Devices
Dicle Doğan and Fatma Sevde Tan, Gun + Partners On 28 January 2020, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published a draft Regulation on the Sale, Advertisement and Promotion of Medical Devices (Turkish language) which will amend some of the existing provisions of the regulatory framework and introduce new rules. The most significant amendments are related to restrictions of medical device sales and advertising activities. The medical devices described in either… »