Region: Turkey

IP court interprets scope of Bolar exemption

A recent IP court decision marks the first interpretation of the Bolar exemption with such a narrow scope and the first time that an application for inclusion on the Social Security Institution reimbursement list has been considered an attempt to actually sell a drug. However, it remains to be seen whether the appeal court will agree with the IP court's reasoning.

25 February 2015

Constitutional Court: IP rights to be regulated by law

The draft Patent Law is still pending on Parliament’s agenda, but the Constitutional Court recently handed down a strategic decision which revealed a much more serious issue in relation to the existing Patent Decree-Law. In its decision the Constitutional Court annulled Article 158/II of the Patent Decree-Law on the grounds that the right of property should not be governed by decree-laws.

28 January 2015

Changing approach of courts to Bolar exemption

Under the Bolar exemption, regulatory acts such as obtaining marketing authorisation and conducting experiments and tests necessary to obtain marketing authorisations are exempt from the scope of patent rights. Although the IP courts used to limit the scope of the Bolar exemption with the grant of the marketing authorisation, this approach has been altered to extend the scope of the acts to be interpreted under the exemption.

21 January 2015

IP court finds second medical use claims to be medical treatment methods

The Istanbul IP Court, evaluating a patent infringement claim filed by the patentee of a 'Swiss-type' European patent, has rejected the claim on the grounds that the patent was a "medical treatment method" which should not have been registered under Article 52(4) of the European Patent Convention 1972, and therefore was null and void. The decision has created uncertainty and weakness for second medical use claims.

10 December 2014

Draft patent law creates barriers to patent protection

Since Turkey joined the European Patent Convention in 2000, it has had a bifurcated system for national and European patents validated in Turkey. In order to harmonise procedures, a draft patent law amending Decree-Law 551 on the Protection of Patent Rights has been prepared. However, the latest version of the draft law proposes some controversial changes.

03 December 2014