The World Health Organization (WHO) gives pharmaceutical substances international non-proprietary names (INNs) so that each substance can be identified by a distinct name. However, pharmaceutical trade marks cannot be composed entirely of INNs.
The rulings of the Court of Cassation (the CoC) indicate that while pharmaceutical trade marks can be derived from INNs, they cannot consist solely of these names.
For instance, an action was filed claiming that the defendant’s trade…
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Article 10 grants trademark owners the right to request the transfer of a trademark in case of unfair registration in the name of a commercial agent and/or representative
The provision offers an underestimated and rarely applied tool for genuine trademark owners
A recent Court of Cassation decision involving the marks HOLLIS and OCEANIC highlights the significance of this provision
Relevant rule of law
Article 10 of the Industrial Property Code (“the IP Code”) reads as…
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The well-known trademark registry of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (the Office) became a discussion topic after the Turkish Court of Cassation decided in 2020 that the Office has no authority to create and maintain a registry for well-known trademarks (see Turkey: Well-known trademark registry is again open for debate).
First-instance intellectual property courts and regional courts of appeals adopted this decision immediately and changed their practice, whereas…
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Influencer marketing through social media influencers has achieved giant growth in the advertising sector. Brands, including global and local ones, co-operate with social media influencers to advertise their brands, goods and services because social media influencers are very capable of directing the consumers’ buying habits into certain brands via the presentations, recommendations and compliments they make.
Similarly, based on global research statistics, Türkiye ranks…
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Artificial intelligence influences every aspect of our lives and has revolutionary impact in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as in many other sectors. From DeepMind’s AlphaGo success to Tempus’ personalised approaches to cancer treatment, AI-enabled innovations offer, not only scientific achievements, but also wide-ranging advantages such as operational efficiency, cost reduction and risk mitigation. However, this technological leap also raises critical questions about…
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the rapidly advancing technologies that is increasingly being used in practice. AI, which has found widespread application in both the public and private sectors, has become a major agenda item in Turkiye as well.
The development and widespread adoption of these applications offer opportunities for increased efficiency in various sectors. However, unlike the regulations established in the European Union, Turkiye currently does not have…
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The Law No. 7529 on Amendments to the Consumer Protection Law and Certain Other Laws was published in the Official Gazette dated 30 October 2024 and numbered 32707. The law introduced amendments particularly to the direct sales provisions and administrative fines ruled by the Consumer Protection Law, as well as to the E-Commerce Law. Some amendments took immediate effect upon its publication date, while others will come into force later.
Key Amendments to the Consumer…
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The need for legal regulation regarding crypto assets has been discussed for a considerable time. With the amendments made by Law no. 7518 (the “Law”) introduced to the Law on Capital Markets no. 6362, published in the Official Gazette numbered 32590 dated July 2, 2024, a comprehensive legal basis for crypto assets has been established within the Turkish legal framework for the first time. The Law has authorized the Capital Markets Board (the “Board”) for drafting secondary…
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Introduction
The Guidelines for the Calendarization Process of Medicinal Products for Human Use (the “Guidelines”) aims to regulate the process for the market authorization applications on medicinal products for human use filed with the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (the “Agency”). The Agency has determined the procedures and principles for calendarization processes of the applications found eligible in the pre-assessments. The Guidelines has been initially…
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Article 8 of the Regulation on Commercial Advertisement and Unfair Commercial Practices ("Regulation") permits comparative advertisements under specific conditions. Subparagraph (a) requires that such advertisements should "not be misleading or deceptive," while subparagraph (f) mandates that "claims based on objective, measurable, and numerical data must be substantiated by scientific tests, reports, or documents." Additionally, Article 9, titled "Burden of Proof," specifies…
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In the 1st paragraph of Article 6 of the Industrial Property Law no. 6769, which regulates the relative refusal grounds in trademark registration, the existence of a likelihood of confusion requires the condition of “identicalness or similarity” of the trademarks along with the similarity of the goods and/or services. During the evaluation of the similarity between the trademarks, the focus is commonly gathered on visual, aural and semantic similarity. The existence of any…
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With the on-site inspections and investigations conducted by the Competition Board (“Board”) in recent years, against innovation-oriented technology companies, pharmaceutical companies, and companies operating in the information technology sector due to competition violations in labor markets, a need has arisen to provide clarity regarding the application of the Law on the Protection of Competition (“Law”) to labor markets and how anti-competitive agreements that restrict…
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