Insights
Life Sciences Newsletter, November 2017
Social Security Institution Inspects Approved Clinical Research Dicle Doğan and Fatma Sevde Tan, Gün + PartnersOn 4 October 2017, the Clinical Research Association announced that the Social Security Institution (SSI) had initiated general inspections on clinical research approved by the Ministry of Health in 2015 and 2016 on the grounds of ensuring compliance with SSI legislation. Clinical research is regulated by the Regulation on Clinical Research of Drugs and Biological… »
Labour Courts Act Comes Into Effect
Introduction On October 25 2017 the Labour Courts Act (7036) was published in the Official Gazette and officially came into effect. The act aims to ease the judiciary’s workload and accelerate the judicial process inemployment cases. It has introduced a number of changes, the most important of which include: mandatory mediation for employers and employees before initiating lawsuits; an amended procedure for reinstatement cases; and a reduced statute of limitations of five… »
Constitutional Court rules on Annulment Request Regarding Article 5 of Cheque Law
Introduction On July 15 2016 the Omnibus Act amended the Cheque Law (5941) regarding the issuance of cheques, bounced cheques and the liability of cheque issuers and banks. In addition to introducing new provisions (eg, the requirement to register cheques under the two-dimensional barcode system), the Omnibus Act reintroduced previously abandoned criminal liability for bounced cheques. In this regard, Article 5 of the Cheque Law imposed a judicial fine of up to 1,500 days per… »
Seminars on Code of Conduct and Discipline Rules in Turkey
The coming into force of the Regulation on the Code of Conduct and Discipline of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office for Patent Attorneys and Trademark Attorneys, crystallised for the Board of Directors of FICPI Turkey the subject of the opening seminar as the Code of Conduct and Discipline Rules. The Board decided to organise two seminars in collaboration with the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office to reach as many patent and trademark attorneys as possible. The first… »
Investing in Turkey
It is without a doubt that countries across Europe and the Middle East have experienced a flood of difficulties over recent years. Turkey has also experienced tough times, particularly in 2016 due to the increase in terrorist attacks, failed coup attempt, the ongoing state of the emergency situation and political instability in Turkey’s neighbouring countries. These political issues have generated uncertainties surrounding the Turkish economy, which resulted in a decrease in… »
Bad-faith Decisions Upheld by Turkish Court of Appeal
Turkish Court of Appeal recently upheld two IP court decisions regarding bad faith Cases concerned the SKINCODE 2 SWITZERLAND and BIELENDA trademarks The cases reiterate the principle that there is no protection in law if a person has acted in bad faith The Turkish Court of Appeal has recently upheld two decisions dated June 21 2017 rendered by the Civil Court for Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights (IP court) which determined bad faith by the applicant in terms of… »
Proof of Use Guidelines Updated
The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) published the Proof of Use Guidelines on April 28 2017 (please see “Turkish Patent and Trademark Office issues guidelines for proof of use of trademarks in opposition proceedings”), after the non-use defence was enacted by the new Industrial Property Code 6769 (IPC). In order to clarify the use and functions of this new procedure, the PTO issued an updated version of the guidelines on September 30 2017. The PTO has added two major… »
Survey on Decoding Conducted by Subcommittee of the Parallel Imports Committee
The removal of product identification codes is a phenomenon and topic which trademark owners in certain branches have been dealing with for decades. In many cases, these codes not only allow the identification or tracing of the product for product safety reasons (product recalls), but may also serve the purpose of identifying the authorized reseller to whom a product was initially delivered by the brand owner. In particular, perfumes, cosmetics, and alcoholic beverages are… »
Supreme Court Rules on Monitoring of Employee WhatsApp Conversations
In June 2017 the Supreme Court rendered an important decision concerning the protection of employees’ privacy rights. The court reversed a first-instance labour court decision and ruled that the dismissal of an employee was unlawful on the grounds that (among other things) the employer had used the employee’s WhatsApp conversations (obtained in an impermissible way) as evidence, thus violating the employee’s right to privacy. Facts A group of employees presented a collective… »
Changes Brought with the New Communiqué on the Pricing of Medicinal Products for Human Use
The new Communiqué on the Pricing of Medicinal Products for Human Use (“Communiqué”) has been enacted on 29.09.2017. The Communiqué keeps the general framework of the pricing of pharmaceuticals, although it brings a few changes as foreseen in the Decision dated 24 February 2017 the Council of Ministers No. 2017/9901 (“Decision”) The Communiqué introduced two new terms: “real source price” and “source price” which does not change the pricing system. The “real source price” is… »
Turkey Targets Foreign Investment
New developments in Turkey could reignite an appetite for foreign investment into the region. It is without a doubt that countries across Europe and the USA have experienced a flood of difficulties over recent years. Turkey has also experienced tough times, particularly in 2016 due to the increase in terrorist attacks, failed coup attempt and the ongoing state of the emergency situation and political instability in Turkey’s neighbouring countries. These political disorders… »
Life Sciences Newsletter, October 2017
New communiqué on medicines pricing Dicle Doğan, Bentley James Yaffe and Fatma Sevde Tan, Gün + Partners On 29 September 2017, the Ministry of Health published the new “Communiqué on the Pricing of Medical Products for Human Use” in the Official Gazette numbered 30195. The communiqué contains significant amendments to the pricing of products subject to special conditions and the timetable of the pricing procedure. Definitions have been added for the terms “exactly equal… »