Intellectual Property
Under the Turkish law, the main intellectual property rights that are capable of protection are patents, trademarks, registered and unregistered designs, copyrights and confidential information.
An invention is patentable if it is new, improves on the current state of the art and is capable of industrial application. The patent protection is granted by registration with the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) and by Decree Law No. 551 dated 1995 Pertaining to the Protection of Patent Rights together with its implementing regulations, Law No. 4128 dated 1995 Pertaining to the Addition of the Penalty Provisions to the Decree Laws numbered 551, 554, 555 and 556 (Law No. 4128) and unfair competition provisions in the Turkish Commercial Code (Law No. 6762, published in the Official Gazette dated 9 July 1956, No.9353) (TCC). TPI grants patents either following an in-depth examination or without examination. Patents granted without examination are protected for seven years. Patents granted following the TPI’s examination are protected for twenty years.
In order to be registered, a trademark must be capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings. Goods are divided into 34 classes and services are divided into 11 classes. The trade mark protection is granted by registration with the TPI and by Decree Law No. 556 dated 1995 Pertaining to the Protection of Trade Marks and its implementing regulations, Law No. 4128 and the TCC. Registered trade marks are protected for ten years.
In order to be registered, a design must relate to the features of the whole or part of a product, or its ornamentation, be new, and have an individual character. The protection is granted by registration with the TPI and by Decree Law No. 554 dated 1995 Pertaining to the Protection of Industrial Designs and its implementing regulations, Law No. 4128 and the TCC. Designs registered with the TPI are protected for five years.
An unregistered design is any shape or configuration determined solely by its technical function and dictated solely to allow it to fit to another product. The protection of the unregistered design is under the unfair competition provisions of the TCC.
Copyright is the ownership of any kind of intellectual or artistic creation bearing the characteristics of its author. This includes the following works; scientific (including computer programs), literary (which can also include computer programs), musical, artistic, cinematographic. The protection subsists automatically under Law No. 5846 dated 1951 on Intellectual and Artistic Works and Law No. 5728 dated 2008 that amends the penalty provisions of Law No. 5846 in a way to comply with the basic criminal laws and other related laws. The owner of a copyright has the right to process, publish, duplicate and transmit the same. The copyrights are protected during the life time of their owners and for additional 70 years.
Confidential information includes trade secrets and inventions in enterprises. Trade secrets are automatically protected under the unfair competition provisions of the TCC. Any other confidential information must be protected by a confidentiality agreement. The right holder can prevent the disclosure of the confidential information to third parties.
Turkey is a party to the following international agreements, conventions and treaties related to intellectual property rights: Paris Convention for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, the Convention Establishing WIPO, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification (IPC), Protocol Relating to Madrid Agreement, the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of Registration of Marks, the Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs, the Trademark Law Treaty (TLT), the Budapest Agreement on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for The Purposes of Patent Procedure, the Convention Establishing the World Trade Organization, the European Patent Convention and the Patent Law Treaty and Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks.
For further details on the registration process and applicable updated registration fees of any IP right, please contact us.