Introduction
The Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Institution – established under the Ministry of Health -published new Guidelines on the Supply from Abroad and the Use of Pharmaceuticals in April 2014, which were amended in December 2014. The amendments – as well as developments at the Social Security Institution – introduce important changes to the named patient programme in Turkey.
The purpose of the guidelines is to determine the procedures and principles regarding the…
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The Turkish patent regime has a pre-grant opposition system and recognises two types of patent: unexamined patents and examined patents. Unexamined patents are granted without a substantive examination and are protected for seven years, while examined patents are granted only after passing the substantive examination and are protected for 20 years. Unexamined patents can also be converted into examined patents if a request for examination is made during the seven-year…
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Introduction
The Fifth Judicial Reform Package introduced important amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code on February 21 2014, including new requirements for the confiscation and freezing of assets as a precautionary measure during criminal investigations. These included a requirement for the competent authority to prepare a report in order for a confiscation decision to be rendered. Based on the nature and specifics of the case, the competent authority could be:
the…
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Legal framework
Turkey is a party to most international IP-related treaties, including the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), which aims to harmonise the legal framework for anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy. Accordingly, Trademark Decree-Law 556 is almost fully compliant with TRIPs. There are specialist civil and criminal IP courts in the three largest Turkish cities (Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir). In other cities the regular civil…
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I INTRODUCTION
The use of arbitration as an ADR method in Turkey is on the rise, especially for international disputes. There is also a growing demand for the use of domestic arbitration, however, domestic parties mostly prefer court litigation for cultural and financial reasons and because of the way court and arbitration system is structured in Turkey.
The establishment Arbitration of the IstanbulCentre, which aims to attract not only disputes involving Turkish parties but…
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The number of employees in an associated company abroad, must be considered when determining whether an employer has more or less than 30 employees, for the purposes of employment protection under the Turkish Labour Act.
Article 18 of the Turkish Labour Act provides employment protection for employees who have been working for at least six months at a workplace which has at least 30 employees. In these circumstances, an employer must have a valid reason to terminate an…
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In a recent decision (merit number 2014/15516, decision number 2015/327, January 14 2015), the 11th Chamber of the Court of Appeal has upheld a decision of the court of first instance (Ankara Fourth Civil Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights, merit number 2014/17, decision number 2014/136, June 11 2014) in which the court had cancelled a decision of the Re-Examination and Evaluation Board of the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI). The board had rejected the…
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The general practice of the Turkish IP Court is to continue with invalidation proceedings brought against the Turkish validation of a European patent even where the patent is still under opposition or appeal before the European Patent Office (EPO).
Although it is obvious why it may not be effective for a local court to evaluate the validity of the patent before the EPO has issued its final decision, the Turkish IP Court has based this practice on the length of EPO proceedings…
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The Court of Appeal held that the SHERATON device marks are well known in the relevant sector; it was not possible for consumers to recognise that the trademarks belonged to two different entities, and consumers could believe that the SOYIÇ HOTEL mark belonged to the plaintiff. The court further held that the defendant was attempting to benefit unfairly from the plaintiff’s trademarks.
Upon rejection by the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) of the appeal filed against the…
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Uğur Aktekin and Bentley James Yaffe of Gün + Partners examine the recent changes to Turkish Internet Law and the potential impact on the country’s IT business environment
Recent years have seen internet usage greatly increase throughout Turkey, reaching 40 million broadband internet subscribers in the third quarter of 2014. With a young and dynamic population, increased internet penetration and a rise in the number of smart devices, Turkey is in a prime position to increase…
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Introduction
Alternative models for the reimbursement of health services have been a common phenomenon in Europe for many years. Countries have adopted diverse policies in this regard comprising, for instance, paybacks, price-volume agreements and economic evaluations.
With the enactment of Law 6552 in September 2014, alternative reimbursement models have also become a hot topic in the Turkish healthcare industry.
Background
Law 6552 amended Article 73 of the Social Security…
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In December 2014, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) took an important initiative by publishing its very first Foreign Bribery Report. Examining 427 bribery cases, The Report revealed that only 17 out of 41 members of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention concluded bribery investigations with court decisions over the past 15 years. Such a small number clearly presented the need for better enforcement of anti-corruption laws worldwide.
While such…
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