The Advertisement Board ("Board") made a striking decision at its meeting on January 9, 2024. The decision is based on the provision of the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices ("Regulation") which emphasizes the necessity of taking economic and social responsibility into consideration in advertisements. The decision in question pertains to the introduction of the collection titled “The Jacket” by the global textile giant Zara on their…
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AI technologies and generative AI models enabling the creation of original content by processing text, images, sound and other data have been a hot topic of this year. Should the outputs generated by AI be copyrighted work, if so who owns the rights, and copyright infringement by use of AI have been widely discussed.
The general rule appears to be that an AI cannot have rights to the works it generates and that only human creativity can enjoy copyright protection. In the…
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The PTO has refused an application for MA MONDE FRESHEN UP & SHINE following an opposition by a foreign cosmetics company
The fact that the applicant sought to register a sign identical to the opponent’s trademark could not be a mere coincidence
The Trademarks Department also considered the opponent’s trademark registrations and usage abroad, as well as the applicant’s bad faith
The Trademarks Department has found that the application for MA MONDE FRESHEN UP &…
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Corporate Entities
What are the main corporate entities commonly involved in private acquisitions?
In the context of private M&As, the most popular company structures among the various types available under the Turkish Commercial Code are:
Joint stock companies (JSCs).
Limited liability companies (LLCs).
The corporate veil principle applies to both JSCs and LLCs.
In a JSC:
Shareholders can freely transfer their shares to others without the approval of the general…
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The consecutive investigations initiated by the Competition Board ("Board") due to competition violations in labor markets, with the first one in 2021, have stirred significant attention. Following the investigations concerning 32 undertakings, primarily consisting of innovation-based technology companies, which resulted in substantial administrative fines imposed on some of the undertakings within the scope of the investigation, the investigations initiated against 19…
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Named Patient Program (“NPP”) is one of the exceptional pharmaceutical importation regimes for products that are not authorized or authorized but unavailable in the Turkish market for various reasons.
After numerous allegations in the news that the drugs supplied from abroad and used in cancer treatment were only products containing painkillers and that the products were counterfeit, the Regulation on the Supply of Medicines from Abroad (“NPP Regulation”) was published on…
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On 1 March 2024, the Omnibus Law Amending Certain Laws and Decree Law No. 663 (the “Omnibus Law”), which amends certain provisions of the Law No. 1262 on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Preparations (the “Law No. 1262”) and the Fundamental Law on Healthcare Services No. 3359 (the “Law No. 3359”), was published in the Official Gazette numbered 32476. In the general preamble of the Omnibus Law, it was stated that social and economic transformation, rapidly developing technology…
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Anti-suit injunctions ("ASI") issued by Chinese courts, which prevent parties of proceedings concerning standard-essential patents ("SEPs") from bringing proceedings against each other in different countries, have become one of the controversial issues in these proceedings, highlighting the "jurisdiction of the court".
As is known, in the case of SEPs, the first issue that confronts the patent holder and the company implementing the SEP is whether a licence has been asked…
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In general terms, public policy is defined as a set of rules and principles ensuring a smooth conduct of public services, a state’s security and safety, and compliance of the relationship between individuals with the principles of peace and ethics[1]. Due to its conceptual nature and vulnerability to a turmoil of different interpretations, violation of public policy appears as one of the most prevalent counter arguments in enforcement and setting-aside proceedings of foreign…
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The Law No. 7499 on Amending the Code of Criminal Procedure and Certain Laws (“the, which includes the long-awaited amendments to the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law (the “Law”) and is also referred to as the 8th Judicial Reform Package, was published in the Official Gazette dated 12 March 2024 and numbered 32487.
Significant changes regarding the processing of sensitive personal data, cross-border transfer of personal data, administrative sanctions and legal remedies…
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Being aware of the fact that technological developments have diversified the ways in which commercial advertisements are created and presented to consumers, the Advertisement Board ("Board") scrutinized the advertising content created by artificial intelligence for the first time during its meeting dated September 12, 2023 and numbered 337.
In Türkiye, there is no regulation that directly addresses advertisements created by using artificial intelligence. The Board evaluated…
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Foreign pharmaceutical trademarks, in principle, are registered in the name of the companies in the countries where they are established, and trademark protection procedures are managed by those companies. Although affiliates in Türkiye are not a party to trademark protection proceedings, since they become the marketing authorization holders of the drug, they are considered the relevant addressee of the Ministry of Health (“MoH”) in all transactions related to the…
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