European Patent Validation and Avoiding Double Patenting
Double patenting is prohibited in Turkey under Article 21 of the Implementing Regulations to the European Patents Convention. Under Article 21, if a European patent which designates Turkey and a national patent is granted to the same person, for the same subject matter and with the same application or priority date, the national patent lapses at the end of the opposition term set out in the European Patent Convention if: the European patent is maintained as a result of… »
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… »
Turkish Patent and Trademark Office issues guidelines for proof of use in opposition proceedings
Turkish Patent and Trademark Office issues guidelines for proof of use in opposition proceedings Following the entry into force of the Industrial Property Code (6769) on January 10 2017 and the Regulation on the Implementation of the Industrial Property Code on April 24 2017 (see “New IP Code enters into force: 2017 will be the year of IP rights” and “Entry into force of new Regulation on the Implementation of the Industrial Property Code”), on April 28 2017 the Turkish… »
TURKEY: Implementing Regulation of the New IP Code Enters into Force—Major Changes for Trademarks
Following the entry into force of the Turkish Industrial Property Code (the IP Code) on January 10, 2017, a draft of the implementing regulation regarding the IP Code was immediately prepared and views of the stakeholders were collected. The regulation has been finalized and was published in the Official Gazette on April 24, 2017. The most important provisions in the regulation with respect to trademarks are in relation to co-existence agreements and the use requirement in… »
“Zero” is Descriptive for Beverages – Court of Appeals
With its recent decision dated March 9 2017 and numbered 2016/14857 E, 2017/1442 K, the Turkish Court of Appeals (CoA), by reversing its previous decision in the same dispute, held that the trade marks Uludağ Zero and Panda Zero cannot be considered confusingly similar on the basis of the commonness of the term “zero” since this term is descriptive for beverages. The decision concerns a cancellation action filed by the plaintiff against the decision given by the Turkish… »
Shining Light on Turkey’s New IP Code
Turkey’s Industrial Property Code No 6769 (“the IPC”) was published in the Official Gazette and came into force on 10 January 2017. The IPC abolished the Decree Laws on the protection of trademarks, patents, geographical indications (“GIs”) and designs by unifying them into a single code. One of the main aims of the IPC is providing compliance with developments in EU IP law. At this point, in addition to unifying and harmonising the existing… »
Protection of Traditional Product Names under the New IP Code No. 6769
Abstract Partners Uğur Aktekin and Güldeniz Doğan Alkan examine the reach of Turkey‘s new IP Code and its impact on traditional product names. Analysis The Industrial Property Code No. 6769 (the IPC) was published in the Official Gazette and came into force on 10 January 2017. The IPC abolished the Decree-Laws on the protection of Trademarks, Patents, Geographical Indications (GIs) and Designs by unifying them into a single code. One of the main aims of the IPC is… »
A new adventure for the intellectual property system in Turkey: IP Code No 6769
The Industrial Property Code No 6769 (the ‘IP Code’), which was prepared by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (the ‘Office’), and abolished previous intellectual property (IP)-related decree laws was accepted by Parliament on 22 December 2016 and entered into force on 10 January 2017 following its publication in the Official Gazette.In the 1990s, Turkey conducted official negotiations with the European Union (EU) in order to become a member of the Customs Union. Within… »
Does the ‘part included in the whole’ principle apply to services under Class 35?
The Court of Appeal recently issued a decision stating that although a trademark application for retail services of certain goods in Class 35 was similar to a senior trademark – the scope of which was indicated with general phrases such as “retail services of all/various goods” in Class 35 – the application could not be rejected on the grounds of confusing similarity unless the owner of the senior trademark proved that it was genuinely used (or at the very least, serious… »
New rules and regulations on implementing the co-existence principle
The Industrial Property Code (6769), which abolished previous IP-related decree laws, and the regulation on its implementation entered into force respectively on January 10 2017 and April 24 2017 (see “New IP Code enters into force: 2017 will be the year of IP rights” and “Entry into force of new Regulation on the Implementation of the Industrial Property Code”). The code has introduced the long-awaited co-existence principle for trademarks and the possibility to overcome the… »
Entry into force of new Regulation on the Implementation of the Industrial Property Code
Industrial Property Code The Industrial Property Code 6769, which abolishes previous IP-related decree-laws and unites all IP rights, including trademarks, patents, industrial designs, utility models, geographical indications and traditional product names, was published in the Official Gazette and entered into force on January 10 2017 (see “New IP Code enters into force: 2017 will be the year of IP rights”). According to provisional Article 2 of the Industrial Property Code… »