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New IP Law FAQ

The Industrial Property Law entered into force on January, 10 2017. However, Article 26 concerning the cancellation of trademarks by the TP will enter into force 7 years after the effective date of the IP Law; second paragraph of Article 23 egarding time limitations for trademark renewals, fourth paragraph of Article 69 regarding time limitations for design renewals and Article 46 regarding the requirement for use of emblems along with geographical indications will be entered into force 1 year after the effective date of the IP Law.

All transactions related with industrial property rights which are made before the TP shall be done within 2 months unless otherwise specified.

Applications regarding trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications and patents which have been made before the effective date of the Industrial Property Law, shall be finalized according to the provisions of the related decree law. However, provisions of the Industrial Property Law shall be applicable in matters regarding additional patent applications made before the effective date of the Industrial Property Law and the conversion of a patent application with examination into a patent application without examination, patent application into an utility model application and utility model application into a patent application.

There was a requirement that the trademark must be shown in graphically according to the Decree Law No: 556. This requirement is revoked with the Industrial Property Law. Therefore, trademarks may be in any form. In addition to personal names, words, figures, letters, numbers and packages and shapes of products; voices and colours are also included in the IP Law among marks which may be registered as a trademark.

According to the IP Law, the proprietor of the prior registered trademark may issue a notarised deed of consent which allows to make a trademark application which is similar to the registered trademark. In this case, the trademark application shall not be refused by the TP.

Objections against a published trademark application shall be made within 2 months following the date of publication according to the article 5 and 6 of the IP Law.

Unlike the provisions of the Decree Law No: 554, multiple applications are possible according to the Industrial Property Law provided that certain conditions are met. In this respect, each product on which the design is used in shall be in the same class.

Pursuant to the Industrial Property Law, the protection period of non-registered designs is 3 years as of the first public presentation date of the industrial design.

According to the Decree Law No:551, the patent applicant shall request examination in 15 months following the application date. This time limit has been decreased to 12 months with the IP Law. According to the IP Law, application request shall be deemed withdrawn unless the applicant requests examination within 12 months. In addition, the Law grants to the Council of Ministers authority to decrease this time limit.

There were two different patent granting systems in the Decree Law No.551; namely, patents with substantive examination and patents without substantive examination process. In line with this, the applicant had to make his/her selection between these two systems within 3 months following the notification of research report. If the applicant does not make his/her selection, it was to be deemed that the applicant chooses the patent without substantive examination process. This distinction is not preserved in the IP Law and all patents are now subject to the examination process. Therefore, the applicant shall request the examination within 3 months following the notification of research report, otherwise the application shall be deemed withdraw

According to the Decree Law No:551, compulsory license could only be requested from courts. Under the IP Law, it may also be requested from the Turkish Competition Authority also to grant compulsory license when it is detected that there are trade practices which inhibit, distort or restrict competition in the market by the use of patents.

 

Abbreviations:

  • IP Law/Law : Industrial Property Law No. 6769
  • Decree Law No. 556 : Decree-Law No. 556 Pertaining to the Protection of Trademarks
  • Decree Law No. 554 : Decree-Law No. 554 Pertaining to the Protection of Industrial Designs
  • Decree Law No. 551 : Decree-Law No. 551 Pertaining to the Protection of Patents

TP : Turkish Patent and Trademark Office