Current Practice Of Bolar Exemption In Turkish Patent Law

Article 85(3)/(c) of the Industrial Property Law No. 6769 ("IPL") regulates the Bolar Exemption, which stipulates the exclusion of experimental acts containing the invention subject to the patent from the scope of the patent right, including the licensing of pharmaceuticals and the necessary tests and experiments thereof. Undoubtedly, the purpose of the Bolar Exemption is to ensure that the generic medicinal product can be put on the market without losing time once the patent expires and to prevent the de facto extension of the protection period granted for the patent.

Even though the wording of the specified article limits the scope of the Bolar Exemption to the licensing of pharmaceuticals and the tests and experiments necessary for this, not only the decisions of the Intellectual and industrial property rights law courts in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir but also District Court and Court of Cassation decisions indicate that the relevant provision is interpreted