You are waiting in line, trying to decipher several different languages spoken around you: English, Dutch, German, Arabic, French… This scene is not from an airport but rather from a Turkish hospital: thousands of foreigners, communicating through translators, visit healthcare institutions every day and numbers are increasing exponentially; in the first six months of 2014, 162,445 medical tourists visited Turkey. This is only one of the results of the Health Transformation…
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In October 2014 the co-promotion of pharmaceutical products became a top priority for the pharmaceutical sector – including pharmaceutical companies, leading non-profit associations and their legal counsel – after the Ministry of Health sent letters to certain pharmaceutical companies.
Cancellation of co-promotion permissions
The letters stated that the ministry was cancelling co-promotion permissions which had previously been granted to the pharmaceutical companies and…
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Waiting in line, trying to decipher the different languages spoken around you: English, Dutch, German, Arabic, French… This scene is not from an airport but rather from a Turkish hospital: thousands of foreigners, communicating through translators, visit healthcare institutions every day. A quarter of a million foreign patients come to Turkey each year for medical treatment – and this number is increasing exponentially.
This is only one of the results of…
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In 2000 Turkey joined the European Patent Convention (EPC). Recently, the Istanbul IP Court, evaluating a patent infringement claim filed by the patentee of a ‘Swiss-type’ European patent, 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 EPC 1972, and therefore was null and void.
Decision
The European patent at issue was registered by the European Patent Office (EPO) on…
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1. Copyright Subsistence
1.1 What are the requirements for copyright to subsist in a work?
The protection of copyrights is regulated under the Law of Literary and Artistic Works No. 5846 (Law No. 5846).
According to Law No. 5846, an intellectual or artistic creation is qualified as a ‘work’ subject to copyright protection if:
it is original, namely if it is the result of independent, creative effort by the author (this is a subjective condition); and
it falls under one of…
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Under the Turkish Trademark law, there is in principle no ban on the registration of the three-dimensional (3D) shape of goods and/or their packaging. In fact, such trademarks are mentioned in the list of registrable signs and are subject to the same conditions as other types of trademarks. Article 5 of the Decree Law No 556 Pertaining to the Protection of Trademarks states as follows:
“Provided that it is capable of distinguishing the goods and services of one undertaking…
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Intellectual Property (IP) rights are intangible assets that are either the creations of minds or are chosen or created in the form of distinctive signs. Among IP rights, trademarks and copyrights stand out as the most important and relevant for use by law firms. Trademarks form the legal basis for protecting a law firm’s brand, while copyrights form the legal basis for protecting its knowledge. Trademarks provide an exclusive ownership and protection perpetually as long as…
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Associations between the U.S. and Turkey started in 1947 when the U.S. Congress designated Turkey as a recipient of economic and military assistance intended to help the U.S. resist threats from the Soviet Union. From a historical point of view, relations between Turkey and the U.S. have been multidimensional and based upon mutual respect and interest. Currently Turkey and the U.S. cooperate across a broad geography, covering Iraq, the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans…
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Mehmet Gün, senior partner at Gün + Partners, examines the difficulties facing the Turkish judiciary and how essential a first-class justice system is to Turkey’s progress
In the 1980s, Turkey undertook significant liberalisation of its national economy. Since then, liberalisation has increasingly become a pivotal part of the international economy. Between the 1980s and 2000, Turkey learnt some very important lessons in the form of economic crises and was saved by…
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Since significant liberalisation of its national economy in the 1980s, Turkey, has become a pivotal part of the international economy and weathered the economic crises between the 1980s and 2000. Turkey’s exports continue to break records, while trade deficit levels continue to drop. Commensurate with her unique strategic position, Turkey is busy enhancing her international diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, unleashing enormous opportunities, not only for the…
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Following an application for the annulment of Article 42/1(c) of Decree-Law 556 on the ground of unconstitutionality, referred by the Fourth IP Court of Istanbul, the Turkish Constitutional Court has ordered the annulment of that provision (Decision 2013/147 E 2014/75 K, April 9 2014). The decision of the Constitutional Court entered into force upon its publication in the Official Gazette No 29070 on July 24 2014.Article 42/1(c) of Decree-Law 556 reads as follows:
“A…
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§11.01 INTRODUCTION
Intellectual property rights (IPRs (IPR in the singular meaning)) have become the most valuable assets in the modern times of the global economy. The strength and financial importance of IPRs has also been well recognized in Turkey since 1995, the year of ‘Turkish IPR revolution’; the Turkish legal system relating to IPRs was amended to ensure conformity with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)1 and other…
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