Dicle Doğan and Fatma Sevde Tan, Gun + Partners
On 27 April 2020, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published Guidelines on Scientific Meetings and Educational Activities regarding Medical Devices (Turkish language).
The guidelines cover web-based scientific and educational meetings. Web-based meetings include online seminars, video conferences and meetings that can be watched over the network.
Pursuant to the guidelines, web-based meetings are subject to the…
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With the first case announced on March 11th, 2020, COVID-19 pandemic has started to show certain impacts on, among others, business life in Turkey. At the writing date of this article, Turkey is going through a normalization phase. Indeed, on May 28th, the president announced that regular curfew imposed on weekends will be terminated, inter-provincial travel restrictions will be removed, and the age limit subject to be under continuous curfew will be lowered from 20 to 18, as…
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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…
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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…
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1. What are the current major trends in the private M&A market?
In recent years, Turkey has enacted several laws designed to improve its investment environment. In 2012, the Turkish Commercial Code (TCC) and the Turkish Code of Obligations entered into force to replace their previous versions and create a transparent and sustainable commercial environment.
In 2016, Turkey enacted the Law Amending Certain Laws for Improvement of the Investment Environment numbered 6728…
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Following the amendments made in the Banking Law No. 5411 on 20 February 2020, the Regulation on Manipulation and Misleading Transactions in Financial Markets (“the Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette on 7 May 2020 and entered into force.
The Article 76/A[1], which was added to the Banking Law on 20 February as the basis of the Regulation, defines manipulation and misleading transactions in financial markets by explicitly referring to the banking transactions…
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The suspension of judicial terms due to COVID-19, which was set to expire on 30 April 2020, has been extended until 15 June 2020 (for further details please see "COVID-19: suspended proceedings and judicial terms"). However, this date will be re-evaluated if the risk of spreading the virus is eliminated before the extension expires.
Background
The Law on the Amendment of Certain Laws 7226 suspended procedural terms until 30 April 2020 in order to prevent any loss of rights in…
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The COVID-19 outbreak, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on 11 March 2020, the date on which the first case in Turkey was discovered, has inevitably had a significant impact on economic life. The measures taken to minimise this impact eventually resulted in labour law having to be restructured according to the pandemic's circumstances. In this respect, the duration of compensatory working, which is stipulated under the Labour Act, has been…
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The Court of Cassation has held that the Patent and Trademark Office has no authority to create and maintain a registry for the recordation of well-known marks
Well-known status must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis
The finalisation of this decision will have significant repercussions
In a recent decision that challenges longstanding precedents, the Court of Cassation has concluded that the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office has no authority to create and maintain a…
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Under the Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 Article 18 ("DPL") the Personal Data Protection Board (“Board”) has the authority to impose administrative fines on data controllers due to failure to comply with their various obligations regulated under the DPL, i.e. failure to comply with the obligation to inform data subjects, obligations related to data security, the decisions issued by the Board and registration and notification obligations to the Data Controllers’…
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Turkey’s first official diagnosis of COVID-19, which is considered to have begun in China’s Whuan city in December 2019 and which has spread to millions worldwide in the following months, was announced on 11 March 2020. Following the first case reported in Turkey and basically due to sudden increase in the demand for products such as masks, disinfectants, detergents; a direct increase has also been observed in the supply of counterfeit products to the market, which are…
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In a case involving several MESA marks, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that the plaintiff had lost its right to claim trademark infringement due to its silence
The court applied this principle even though the defendant had not clearly raised it as a defence
The case highlights that loss of right to sue due to silence is an important tool for defendants in trademark infringement/invalidation actions
Background
The plaintiff, acting as the owner of the trademark MESA and…
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