INTRODUCTION
Since 2001, Turkey has been in the process of liberalizing its electricity market. The ultimate purpose of this process is to create a fully liberalized system where the state acts only as a supervisory and regulatory authority instead of an investor in the market. Having a state monopoly in the electricity market for a long period of time, Turkey has made and still has to make considerable effort to achieve this ultimate purpose. In this respect, the state has…
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The widely accepted principle in respect to the legal status of Trademark Rights is the “territoriality principle” as is also the case for other intellectual Property Rights. The territoriality principle is also in effect under Turkish Trademark Law and it is regulated under the Decree Law Pertaining to the Protection of Trademarks numbered 556 (“Decree Law No. 556″). Accordingly, with Article 6 of the Decree Law No. 556 which states that “Protection for a trademark under…
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Law 5833, which amends Decree Law 556 on the Protection of Trademarks, entered into force on January 28 2009 upon its publication in the Official Gazette. The new law amends Articles 9 and 61 of the Decree Law.
The new law aims to fill the gaps created by the January 5 2008 decision of the Constitutional Court, which annulled certain provisions of the Decree Law and came into force on January 5 2009. Trademark owners have claimed that the delay in enacting the amendments have…
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Law 5911, which amended the Customs Law 4458, entered into force on October 7 2009. On the same day, the Customs Regulation was published in the Official Gazette. These pieces of legislation introduce major changes to the protection of IP rights at the borders.
Law 5911 allows rights holders to file a single (online) application for the protection of their IP rights by all Turkish customs administrations. Previously, rights holders had to file an application with each customs…
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Trademarks are defined as signs distinguishing the goods and services of one undertaking from the goods and services of the same kind or another undertaking. In this sense, “distinguishing certain goods and services of an undertaking from other goods and services of the same undertaking or other similar goods and services provided by other undertakings” is considered as the main function of trademark.
On the other hand, in the usual flow of the business life, since the signs…
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Turkey has closely followed international developments and has acceded to almost all IP-related international treaties, in particular the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). which aims to harmonize the legal framework on anti-counlerfeiting and anti-piracy among World Trade Organization members.
Decision 1/95 of the EC-Turkey Association Council on implementing the final phase of the Customs Union and EU Directive 89/101. Turkey…
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The Turkish Court of Appeals has upheld a decision of the Ankara First IP Court in which the latter had ordered the cancellation of the trademarks MOBIL FUTBOL and MOBIL VIZYON (Case 2007/7896 E ve 2009/2456 K, March 3 2009). The case arose from a court action lodged by ExxonMobil based on its MOBIL trademark.
The applicant, one of the leading mobile phone companies in Turkey, had applied to the Turkish Patent Institute for trademark protection of the phrases ‘mobil vizyon’…
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After the oil crisis in 1973, greater interest was directed towards renewable energy resources. At that time, the aim was to focus on alternative energy resources in order to be less dependent on oil as an energy resource. After it has been proved that the burning of fossil fuels has a negative impact on climate change, the importance of renewable energy resources has been widely recognized throughout the world with an effort to prevent the undesirable effects of pollution…
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We come across with hidden advertisements on various media in our daily lives, including but not limited to TV, cinema or newspapers. The légitima of “hidden advertising” has become one of the highly debated issues in Turkey.
Amongst the overall discussions and raised arguments, a common question comes into minds: What makes the hidden advertising like this popular and actual in the sector? First of all, it might be said that the advertising prohibition for certain products…
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The Civil Procedure Law dated June 18, 1927 and numbered 1086 (the “CPL”) used to be the governing legislation in Turkey in terms of all arbitration proceedings whether domestic or international. However, the relevant provisions of the CPL were originally intended to regulate domestic arbitration proceedings. Those provisions were therefore not properly responding to the needs of those parties to international disputes. Taking into consideration the need for a specific and…
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Introduction
The Telegram and Telephone Law dated February 21, 1924 and numbered 406 (the “Law No. 406″) has been the governing regulation with regards to telecommunication activities for more than eighty years and despite the fact that it was subject to substantial amendments after the abolishment of monopoly on telecommunication activities, it failed to fully satisfy the demands of the telecommunication market. On November 10, 2008, the Electronic Communication Law numbered…
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