Insights
A New Take on the Concept of Vested Trademark Rights
The Re-examination and Evaluation Board (REEB) of the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) recently found that prior identical trademark registrations which were less than five years old did not provide the owner with vested rights in favour of a new application, as the registrations were still vulnerable to cancellation (Decision 2015-M-11090, November 26 2015). The REEB accepted the opponent’s appeal and rejected the contested trademark application. Facts On June 28 2013 the… »
Is Turkey Doing Enough to Drive Foreign Direct Investment to Sustain its Domestic Economy?
Owing to its geo-political importance Turkey has long been a popular recipient of foreign-direct investment (FDI). 2014 has seen FDI rise significantly with an increase of 9.8% compared to 2013. Foreign investments also reached USD 8.6 billion according to data released by the Ministry of Economy. Between January and July 2014, some 2373 new companies and branch offices were established and an additional 94 foreign capital participations to existing local companies were also… »
Electoral Advertising in Turkey: How was The Recent Turkish Presidential Election Advertised?
Electoral advertising in Turkey is possible under certain conditions stipulated by law. The principal law which regulates the principles of elections in Turkey is the Law on Basic Provisions on Elections and Voters Registers (“Election Law”). According to Article 55/B of the Election Law, the political parties and independent candidates can make propagandas by oral, written or visual advertisements oriented to the voting period in printed media or by way of opening websites… »
Draft Patent Law Brings Barriers to Patent Protection in Turkey
The draft patent law amending the Decree Law numbered 551 Pertaining to the Protection of the Patent Rights (“Patent Decree Law”) is currently the hot button of patent rights in Turkey. Since Turkey adhered to the European Patent Convention (“EPC”) in 2000, there is a bifurcated system differing for both national and European patents validated in Turkey. In order to harmonize the procedures and eliminate the differences, a draft patent law amending the Patent Decree Law… »
Are Second Medical Use Claims Medical Treatment Methods? Evaluation of a Recent Turkish IP Court Decision
Turkey has been a member of European Patent Convention (“EPC”) since 1 November 2000. European Patents, granted by European Patent Office, are validated in Turkey without further examination and protected as a national patent. The competence of EPO in patentability assessment is also respected by Turkish Supreme Court and it has been the case law to take the patentability assessment of the EPO into consideration during national invalidation cases, not only related to European… »
Uncertainty Regarding Legal Status Of Social Security Institution’s Reimbursement Commission
Introduction On June 19 2015 the 15th Chamber of the Council of State stayed the execution of the Directive on the Working Principles and Rules of Procedure of the Reimbursement Commission (July 3 2014). However, the Social Security Institute had already repealed the directive approximately two months before the motion to stay its execution was granted and a new directive containing the repealed provisions in their entirety entered into force on April 30 2015. Accordingly… »
Turkey: A Rising Star In The Pharmaceutical Industry
You are waiting in line, trying to decipher several different languages spoken around you: English, Dutch, German, Arabic, French… This scene is not from an airport but rather from a Turkish hospital: thousands of foreigners, communicating through translators, visit healthcare institutions every day and numbers are increasing exponentially; in the first six months of 2014, 162,445 medical tourists visited Turkey. This is only one of the results of the Health Transformation… »
Copromotion of Pharmaceutical Products
In October 2014 the co-promotion of pharmaceutical products became a top priority for the pharmaceutical sector – including pharmaceutical companies, leading non-profit associations and their legal counsel – after the Ministry of Health sent letters to certain pharmaceutical companies. Cancellation of co-promotion permissions The letters stated that the ministry was cancelling co-promotion permissions which had previously been granted to the pharmaceutical companies and… »
Turkey: A Growing Market with Huge Potential
eatured Article: Waiting in line, trying to decipher the different languages spoken around you: English, Dutch, German, Arabic, French… This scene is not from an airport but rather from a Turkish hospital: thousands of foreigners, communicating through translators, visit healthcare institutions every day. A quarter of a million foreign patients come to Turkey each year for medical treatment – and this number is increasing exponentially. This is only one of the results of… »
IP Court Finds Second Medical Use Claims to be Medical Treatment Methods
In 2000 Turkey joined the European Patent Convention (EPC). Recently, the Istanbul IP Court, evaluating a patent infringement claim filed by the patentee of a ‘Swiss-type’ European patent, rejected the claim on the grounds that the patent was a “medical treatment method” which should not have been registered under Article 52(4) of the EPC 1972, and therefore was null and void. Decision The European patent at issue was registered by the European Patent Office (EPO) on… »
Copyright 2015, Turkey Chapter
1. Copyright Subsistence 1.1 What are the requirements for copyright to subsist in a work? The protection of copyrights is regulated under the Law of Literary and Artistic Works No. 5846 (Law No. 5846). According to Law No. 5846, an intellectual or artistic creation is qualified as a ‘work’ subject to copyright protection if: it is original, namely if it is the result of independent, creative effort by the author (this is a subjective condition); and it falls under one of… »
TPI Softens its Approach to Registration of 3D Marks
Under the Turkish Trademark law, there is in principle no ban on the registration of the three-dimensional (3D) shape of goods and/or their packaging. In fact, such trademarks are mentioned in the list of registrable signs and are subject to the same conditions as other types of trademarks. Article 5 of the Decree Law No 556 Pertaining to the Protection of Trademarks states as follows: “Provided that it is capable of distinguishing the goods and services of one undertaking… »