Region: Turkey

Turkish IP law does not explicitly define ‘indirect infringement’, although legislators refer to Article 86 of the Industrial Property Code.  A recent case, in which a generic company filed a determination of non-infringement action against an originator company, is the first example of an interpretation of Article 86 for second medical-use claims in Turkish IP practice.

22 April 2020

Article 85(3) (c) of the Industrial Property Law excludes marketing authorisation applications from the scope of patent rights. However, the IP courts’ interpretation of this has been disproportionately weighted against patent holders.

08 April 2020

Recent cases demonstrate that the Turkish IP court’s approach to products that possess a minor difference from the range claimed in a patent is rather rigid and it appears reluctant to consider prosecuting allegedly infringing products based on formula deviations.

18 March 2020

A recent case involving two automotive companies has highlighted that third parties that file patent invalidation actions against a non-examined patent should be prepared for a possible request for conversion by the patent owner.

06 November 2019

Featured in IAM Yearbook: Building IP value in the 21st century 2020

03 October 2019

Under Article 154 of the IP Law, any person who has legal benefit can file an action to have a court determine that their acts do not infringe IP rights. For many years the IP courts rejected any attempts by patent holders to uphold their rights against Gx or generic pharmaceutical companies where there was a pending generic MA application on the basis that these are exempted from patent rights – the so-called Bolar exemption.

02 October 2019

In a recent case concerning the regulatory data protection term for a drug, the court found that the filing of an abridged marketing authorisation application for a generic drug is a legal right under the licensing regulation of the Ministry of Health; therefore, utilising a legal right does not constitute unfair competition.

17 July 2019

It has become common for plaintiffs in an invalidation or determination of non-infringement action to demand a precautionary injunction against a defendant patentee to prevent it from enforcing its rights. However, recent case law suggests that the issue is far from straightforward.

26 June 2019

The Istanbul Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property has ordered a patentee to pay €333,000 to the manufacturer of a generic pharmaceutical after an injunction was unfairly granted against the manufacturer’s product. However, both parties are appealing the decision – the first in this area.

19 June 2019

Featured in Patents in Europe: Helping business compete in the global economy 2019/2020

Article 149 of the Industrial Property Code 6769 (IP Code) sets the legal framework for claims that can be asserted by the rights holder and the scope of the injunctions that can be granted by the court.

11 April 2019