Region: Turkey

The Ankara Third Civil Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights recently ruled on the confusing similarity between the well-known trademark 8X4 and the trademark FASHION 4X4. The court cancelled the Turkish Patent Institute's decision that the trademarks 8X4 and FASHION 4X4 were not confusingly similar under Article 8/1(b) of Decree-Law 556 on the Protection of Trademarks.

09 November 2016

The Court of Appeal has established precedent that registered rights must be fully protected until such time as they are invalidated. This rarely causes loss of a party's rights. However, the first-instance courts generally refrain from ruling in favour of a patent, including the grant of injunctions, in an infringement action when invalidation actions are pending on the same patent.

05 October 2016

In 2014 the Istanbul IP Court held that second medical use claims granted by the European Patent Office under the European Patent Convention 1973 were null and void. Although the Court of Appeal overruled this decision, the IP Court refused to acknowledge the higher court's ruling. The case has now gone before the General Assembly of Courts of Appeal.

22 June 2016

The long-awaited Law on the Protection of Personal Data has been published in the <i>Official Gazette</i>. The law establishes the framework for a central data protection regime. While it will have broad effect across multiple industries, it raises particular concerns for the healthcare industry.

15 June 2016

The compulsory licensing provisions included in the draft Industrial Property (Rights) Law have been hotly debated. As well as encompassing the grounds for compulsory licensing already set out in Turkish law, the draft law broadens each provision, in particular extending the scope for granting a compulsory licence in case of failure to work.

08 June 2016

The Industrial Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly has approved the draft Industrial Property (Rights) Law, meaning that Turkey is poised to introduce the doctrine of international exhaustion of IP rights.

25 May 2016

Pursuant to the Trademark Decree-Law, a trademark which is identical or indistinguishably similar to an earlier trademark and which seeks to be registered for the same or similar goods and services will be rejected by the Turkish Patent Institute at the first examination stage, without the need for the owner of the earlier trademark to file an opposition.

06 April 2016

After years of discussions, the new draft IP Law – which is expected to be enacted this year – introduces a post-grant opposition system for national patent filings in Turkey. The new system is being introduced in order to bring Turkish law into line with the European Patent Convention system. However, the post-grant opposition system set out in the draft law has some small differences from the convention system.

30 March 2016

A new draft IP law will introduce provisions to strengthen the protection of the rights of both patent applicants and patent owners. Under the law, the protection given to a patent owner will also be given to a patent applicant as of publication of the application.

23 March 2016

The Turkish Patent Institute has published the long-awaited draft IP Law. The government has decided to regulate all IP rights in a single act: Book 4 of the act covers patent rights, while Book 5 covers common clauses for all IP rights (ie, trademarks, geographical indications, designs and patents).

09 March 2016