Insights
What Are the Recent Decisions and Announcements Made by Government Health Institutions?
The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), which has been declared as pandemic by the World Health Organization, has led to widespread measures being taken around the world. The coronavirus, first seen in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, has been detected in almost 28 Million cases in 215 countries as of today, creating a global crisis with a death toll of over 900.000. The number of cases and deaths started to rise rapidly after the announcement of the first case detection in… »
Postponed Articles of the Turkish Code of Obligations Concerning Workplaces Have Entered Into Force
Although the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 ("TCO") entered into force on 1 July 2012; with Article 53 of the Law on Amendment of Certain Laws and Decree Laws dated July 4, 2012 and numbered 6353, enforcement of Articles 323, 325, 331, 340, 342, 343, 344, 346 and 354 of the TCO (“Postponed Articles”) has been postponed for 8 years as of 1 July 2012 for workplace lease agreements where the lessee is a merchant in the scope of the Turkish Commercial Code ("TCC") or a… »
Impacts of Covid-19 on Intellectual Property in Turkey
Impacts of Covid-19 on intellectual property in Turkey Has the intellectual property office/IP Registry of your jurisdiction taken any measures due to Covid-19 and government/state actions to prevent spread of the virus? The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TurkPatent) is open and active. According to the Presidential Circular No 2020/4, published in the Repeated Official Gazette dated 22 March 2020 and numbered 31076, it has been decided that the number of personnel… »
Direct Marketing 2020 in Turkey
The regulation of unsolicited commercial communications 1. How does national law regulate the making of unsolicited telephone calls for marketing purposes? Electronic commercial communications are regulated by the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce numbered 6563 (E-Commerce Law), which came into force on 1 May 2015, along with the Regulation on Commercial Communication and Electronic Commercial Messages (Commercial Communication Regulation). The E-Commerce Law… »
Sales Promotions 2020 in Turkey
Regulatory Framework 1. How does national law regulate sales promotions? Sales promotions in Turkey are regulated by: Law on the Protection of the Consumer No. 6502 (Consumer Law). Turkish Commercial Code numbered 6762 (TCC). Law on Regulation of Retail Trade No. 6585 (Retail Law). Regulation on Commercial Advertisements and Unfair Practices (Advertising Regulation). Regulation on Lotteries and Drawings for Non-Cash Rewards (Prize Regulation). 2. What obligations or… »
Understanding Indirect Infringement in Turkish IP Practice
Turkish IP law does not explicitly define ‘indirect infringement’. However, legislators refer to Article 86 of the Industrial Property Code, which clarifies a patent holder’s right to prevent third parties from supplying the essential means of the invention (ie, that which serves the working of the patented invention) to unauthorised parties. In order for this provision to apply, third parties must be aware that these elements or instruments are sufficient to implement the… »
Loss of Right Due to Acquiescence in Infringement
The loss of right due to the acquiescence principle had not been regulated in Turkish Law prior to the implementation of the IP Code. However, the Court of Appeals has started to apply this principle based on the circumstances of each case within the scope of the good faith principle and prohibition on abuse of rights, which is regulated under Article 2 of the Turkish Civil Code (“TCC”), and these have become established case-law precedents. In the decisions of the Court of… »
Protection Scope of Weak Trademarks
According to Article 4 of the IP Code a sign should be distinctive in order to benefit from trademark protection. Distinctiveness is an essential factor in determining the scope of protection of a trademark, and the protection scope of trademarks differs according to the distinctiveness level of the component(s) that form the trademark. The trademarks composed of non-distinctive components, or components where the distinctiveness is weak, are called “weak trademarks.”… »
Accuracy Assessment on Decisions of the Office
The assessment of accuracy of the Office’s decisions has always been a controversial issue under Turkish trademark law. A recent decision issued by the 2nd IP Court of Ankara that opposed the Court of Appeal’s (“CoA”) decision, constitutes a remarkable precedent, illuminating the issue. The owner of earlier trademarks, which are also recorded as a well-known trademark by TÜRKPATENT, filed a lawsuit in opposition against a later-dated, and confusingly similar application. The… »
Registered Use Defense in Infringement Actions
As per the settled Court of Appeals (“the CoA”) precedents established during the Trademark Decree-Law era – which ended upon enactment of the new Intellectual Property Code No. 6769 (“IP Code”) on January 10, 2017, it was accepted that use, which was based on a registered trademark, cannot create infringement, regardless of whether this use creates confusion and infringement with a senior trademark registration. As a result of these precedents, use based on a registered… »
Avoiding Genericide of a Trademark
Article 42/1(d) of the former Decree Law set forth that an invalidation action could be filed against a trademark if it becomes a common name of the goods or services it was registered for as a result of the trademark proprietor’s behaviours. The same rule was preserved in the IP Code under Article 26/1(b) as grounds for revocation, instead of invalidation, and with different wording. As per Article 26/1(b), the Office may revoke the trademark upon request, if the trademark… »
The Impact of Non-Use Defence in Criminal Cases
As per the IP Code, trademark protection provided by this law is obtained through registration. However, although registration is necessary to protect the rights of trademark owners and to claim their rights against third parties, this may be insufficient. Indeed, a trademark must be genuinely used in Turkey with respect to goods and services for which it is registered. However, if the trademark is not genuinely used within five years from registration, or if its use is… »