FICPI – TURKEY Board of Directors decided as the subject of this year’s seminar amendments to the trademark and patent registration procedures by the IP Code and their implementation. The seminar was held in İstanbul on October 26, 2018 and there were around 75 participants in addition to the speakers and FICPI – TURKEY members.
At the first session on patents, the speakers discussed amendments on the provisions as to compulsory licenses and proof of use; and at the second…
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Constitutional Court has annulled Article 398 of Code of Civil Procedure, which established imprisonment for breaching preliminary injunction This court ordered that this come into effect within nine months It is hoped that proposals for new punishment for acting against preliminary injunction will come before Parliament within this period
Upon the application of the Istanbul First IP Court, the Constitutional Court has cancelled Article 398 of Code of Civil Procedure, which…
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Mutlu Yıldırım Köse provides a guest post for Class 46 on a recent Court of Appeal ruling in Turkey
The Court of Appeal (COA) has approved a decision of a first instance court which ruled that the regulatory restriction on the sale of cocktail beverages containing distilled alcohols constitutes a proper reason for non-use of a trade mark in Turkey.
Bacardi & Company Limited filed a trade mark infringement and unfair competition action against a Turkish company using the…
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IP right owners suffer huge damages in some IP rights infringement cases as they invest substantial amounts in their IP rights. Therefore, compensation claims are of vital importance for them in order to recover their damages, to protect their reputation and create a deterrent impact on the infringing party.
In parallel with the previous regulations, the Industrial Property Code no. 6769 (“IP Code”) also provides highly advantageous provisions for compensation actions.
In…
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It has now been over two years since the Industrial Property Code No. 6769 (“the IP Code”) came into force. While the interpretation and implementation of most of the issues in relation to the key changes introduced by the IP Code have been addressed by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (“TÜRKPATENT” or “the Office”), there are still some outstanding issues requiring interpretation by the Court of Appeals.
The primary legislative development in trademark law in 2018…
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Compulsory licensing (CL) has been one of the most important concepts in the new Turkish IP Law which entered into force in 2017. Although the concept is not new, the new Article 129, among others, provides the following possible conditions for granting a CL:
(i) failure to work or insufficient working that does not meet the national market needs before the expiration of a period of four years from the date of filing of the patent application or three years from the date of…
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A Turkish generic company filed an invalidation action against a leading US pharmaceutical originator company in Turkey and requested the invalidation of its patent – a Turkish validation of a European patent granted by the EPO. The opposition proceedings were still pending before the EPO at the filing date of the invalidation action in Turkey. The patent owner subsequently requested a delay of the national proceedings, stating that the patent claims could still be amended…
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As per Article 20 of the Commencement of Execution Proceedings in Monetary Receivables Arising from Subscription Agreements Code, Article 5/A was incorporated into the Turkish Commercial Code on 1 January 2019. The article introduces mandatory mediation for claims involving commercial receivables. The new provisions do not apply to pending lawsuits before first-instance courts, regional civil courts or the Court of Cassation.
Applications for mediation must be finalised…
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Mediation now mandatory for claims relating to commercial receivables
As civil suits falling under IP-related codes are considered as commercial actions, mediation is now mandatory for certain types of IP disputes
It is expected that mediation will become mandatory for other types of IP disputes
Discretionary mediation was first introduced into the Turkish legal system in 2013 by Law No 6325 on Mediation in Civil Disputes as one of the alternative dispute resolution…
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Although they are legally available, ex parte injunctions are quite rare in Turkish IP practice. The IP courts almost always reject requests for ex parte injunctions, preferring to evaluate the alleged infringement only after hearing both parties. However, in a recent case, the IP Court unexpectedly granted a request for an ex parte injunction, due to the urgent nature of the matter.
The request for an ex parte injunction was filed against a company in Argentina. The company…
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Law Amending Some Laws and Decree-Laws Related to Health No 7151 entered into force on 15 November 2018
Under Article 24, tobacco goods produced in, or imported into, Turkey shall be offered for sale using plain and standardised packaging
Issues surrounding plain and standardised packaging to be addressed by Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry regulation
The control of tobacco consumption has been one of the top priorities of the Turkish government, and several measures…
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The new IP Code came into force on January 10 2017 in Turkey. One of the major changes in the new IP Code is a non-use defence in opposition proceedings.
According to the IP Code, if the ground trade mark was registered more than five years from the application date (or priority date) of the opposed trade mark application, upon request by the owner of the trade mark application, the Office is obliged to ask the opponent to prove effective use of the ground trade mark(s) on…
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