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Patent - Utility Model - Trademark - Industrial Design - Geographical Sign

Patents and Utility Models

Information

Patentable Inventions
In Turkey, inventions, which are novel, surpass the State-of-the-Art and applicable in industry, shall be protected by patents.

Non-Patentable subject matter and inventions
The following, not being inventions as of their nature, shall remain outside the scope of the patent protection.

· Discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods;

· Plans, methods, schemes/rules for performing mental acts, for conducting business/trading activity, and for playing games.

· Literary and artistic works, scientific works, creations having an esthetic characteristic, computer programs.

· Methods involving no technical aspect, for collecting, arranging, offering/presenting and transmitting information/data.

· Methods of diagnosis, therapy and surgery applying to human or animal body.

· Patent shall not be granted for inventions in respect of following subject matter.

· Inventions whose subject matter is contrary to the public order or to morality as is generally accepted.

· Plant and animal varieties/species or processes for breeding/plant or animal varieties/species, based mainly on biological grounds.

Persons Entitled to Protection
The Protection conferred by Turkish Patent Legislation is available to natural and legal persons who are domiciled or who have industrial or commercial establishments within the territory of the Republic of Turkey, or to the persons entitled to file applications under the provisions of the Paris Convention and Agreement Establishing World Trade Organization.

Reciprocity principle shall also apply.

Language of the Turkish patent application
The description and claim(s) may be filed in English, French or German. A term of one month and additional three months shall be given for translating them into Turkish. For the filing of the corresponding Turkish translation, the related fees shall be paid.

Right to a Patent
The right to a patent shall belong to the inventor or to his successor in title and shall be transferable.

Where an invention has been made jointly by more than one person, if not foreseen otherwise by the parties, the right to request a patent shall belong to them jointly.

Where an invention has been made independently by several persons at the same time, the right to a patent shall belong to the person who has filed the first application or who can claim an earlier priority right on others.

The person who is the first to apply for a patent shall be vested with the right to request the patent until proof to the contrary is established.

Disclosures not affecting Patentability
In the circumstances hereunder cited, disclosure of information which otherwise would affect the patentability of an invention claimed in the application shall not affect the patentability of that invention where the information was disclosed, during the 12 months preceding the date of filing or, where priority is claimed, the date of priority of the application:

· by the inventor,

· by an office when the information was contained

· in another application filed by the inventor and which application should not have been disclosed by the office, or

· in an application filed without the knowledge or consent of the inventor by a third party which obtained the information directly or indirectly from the inventor, or

· by a third party which obtained the information directly or indirectly from the inventor.

Obligation to Work/Use
The patentee or the person authorized by him is under obligation to put to use/work, the invention under patent protection. The obligation to put to use/work must be realized within three years as from the date of publication in the relevant bulletin of the announcement related to the issue of the patent.

Market conditions are (to be) taken into consideration when/for assessing use/working.

Evidence of Use
The patentee or the person authorized by him shall prove his use of the invention by an official certificate to be filed before the Institute.

Term of a Patent
A patent right shall terminate upon:

· expiry of the term of protection;

· surrender, by the holder of a patent, of the patent right;

· non-payment of yearly annuities and additional fees, within the prescribed time-periods.

Term of Patent Protection
The term of a patent granted with (substantive) examination shall be a non-extendible period of 20 years from the date of filing the application.

The term of a patent granted without (substantive) examination shall be 7 years. Where the (substantive) examination request is made within seven years and the patent is granted after such examination, the term of patent shall be completed to 20 years.

Utility Model Certificates
Utility model applications may be filed and these applications are not subject to novelty search (State of the Art) or Substantive examination, unless requested by the applicant.

Inventions Protected by Granting Utility Model Certificates
Inventions which are novel and applicable in industry shall be protected by grant of Utility Model Certificate.

Inventions and subject matter non-patentable by Grant of Utility Model Certificate
No Utility Model Certificate shall be granted for processes and products obtained by such processes and for chemical products.

Form and Term of Protection
The holder of a utility model certificate benefits from the same protection conferred to the patent holder.

The Utility Model Certificate is granted for a period of 10 years as from the date of filing of the application. This term shall not be extended.

Certificates-of-addition to utility model certificates shall not be granted.

Annual maintenance fees
Annual fees are due for patent and utility models and for the applications as well. The due date is the application day and month of every year. For secret patents annuity payment is not due.

Grace Period - There is a grace period of 6 (six) months during which the missed annuity can be paid with a fine. Failing to pay the annuities causes the patent or application to be declared invalid.

· Where a patent right terminates for non-payment of yearly annuities; with the holder of the patent bringing evidence of force majeure for reasons of which the said fee could not be paid, the patent shall be revalidated.

Trade / Service Marks

Signs that can be registered as a trade / service mark
A trademark, provided that it is capable of distinguishing the goods and services of one undertaking from the goods and services of other undertakings, may consist of all kinds of signs being represented graphically such as words, including personal names, designs, letters, numerals, shape of the goods or their packaging and similarly descriptive means capable of being published and reproduced by printing.

Search
A similarity/identity search is strongly recommended prior to filing a trademark application. This search is not obligatory, however it generally provides useful information as to the availability of the mark or ways of avoiding a possible rejection in certain classes.

Use of the trademark
If, within a period of five years following the registration, trademark has not been put to use without a justifiable reason or if the use has been suspended during an uninterrupted period of five years, the trademark may be subject to cancellation by a court decision.

The following shall be understood to constitute use:

· Use of the registered mark in a form differing in elements which do not alter the distinctive character of the trademark,

· Use of the trademark on goods or their packaging solely for export purposes,

· Use of the trademark with the consent of the proprietor,

· Importing of the goods carrying the trademark.

Opposition
Filing opposition against a trademark on the grounds that it may not be registered shall be submitted within three months of the publication of the application.

Term of Protection

Trademark is registered for a period of 10 years from the date of filing of the application. Registration may be renewed for further periods of ten years.

Renewal

The request for renewal must be submitted within a period of six months before the last day of the month in which protection ends. In failing this deadline, the request may be submitted within a further period of six months from the day referred to in the previous sentence upon payment of an additional fee.

Renewal shall take effect from the day following the date on which the existing registration expires.

Industrial Designs

Persons Entitled for Protection

The protection conferred by Turkish Patent Legislation is available to natural and legal persons who are domiciled or who have industrial or commercial establishments within the territory of the Turkish Republic, or to the persons who have application rights resulting from the terms of the Paris or Bern Conventions or the Agreement Establishing World Trade Organization.

Design means the entirety of the various features such as lines, color, texture, shape, sound, elasticity, material or other characteristics perceived by the human senses of the appearance of the whole or part of a product or its ornamentation.

Product means any industrial or handicraft item, parts of a complex system,
sets, compositions of items, packaging, get-ups, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, excluding the computer programs and semi-conductor products.

Designer is the creator of the design to be protected.

Designs that can be protected

Protection shall be granted to a design, which is new and has an individual character. Designs of products, which are parts of complex items, shall be protected if and when the design of the part itself is new and has individual character.

Novelty

A design shall be considered new if before the date of reference no identical design has been made available to the public in the world. Designs differing only in immaterial details shall be deemed to be identical. To make available to the public shall cover of all actions of sale, use, publication, publicity, exhibiting, or such similar activities.

Individual Character

A design shall be understood to have an individual character if the overall impression it creates on the informed user is significantly different from the overall impression created on the same user by any design referred to in the second paragraph of this Article.

In order for any other design to be compared for the purposes of determining the individual character of a design;

· It should have been made public in Turkey or in the world before the application date.

· The Institute should have published it as a registered design, and that the protection period has not expired at the application date of the design with which it shall be compared.

Registration System in Turkey

· Examination of application and remedying deficiencies formal.

· Registration of the design,

· Publication of design for 6 moths in Official Design Bulletin,

· Examination and decision for opposition (if any),

· Preparation of Registration Certificate.

Term of Protection of the Registered Design

The term of protection of the registered design is five years from the date of filing of the application.

The term of protection is renewable for periods of five years each up to a total term of 25 years.

Right to Design

The right to the design shall vest in the designer or his legal successor in title.

Each person entitled to a design right, can execute the following in his own right independently of the other joint holders:

· He is free to dispose of this share of the design right. Joint holders have priority purchase right in case of transfers to third parties.

· He can make use of the design after having informed the other shareholders.

· He can undertake necessary measures to protect the design.

· Licensing of the design to third parties can be granted with the approval of all of the shareholders.

Multiple Applications

Application of several designs may be combined in one application. However, this possibility is subject to the condition, except in cases of ornamentation, that the products in which the designs are intended to be incorporated or to which they are intended to be applied all belong to the same sub-class or to the same set or composition of items.