AGIP is proud to announce the launch of its new branch in Turkey. The opening of the new office, which took place in December 2001, is part of AGIP’s continuous expansion across countries in Asia and Africa. Due to Turkey’s strategic location as a hub for international businesses, the need to safeguard intellectual property rights via professional IP service providers has become fundamental.
A member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, TRIPs and the European Patent Convention, Turkey has taken long strides in the field of IP protection. The country follows the international classification of goods and will be adopting the new classification of classes including classes 42 to 45. Turkey has signed the Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol, the Patent Convention Treaty and the Nice Agreement in a step to stipulate international IP laws and regulations in the Republic.
I. Trademarks
Once a trademark application is filed in Turkey, it is examined as to its registrability. If the Trademark Registrar rejects a mark upon examination, an appeal could be submitted within two months from the date of rejection. Once a trademark application is accepted by the Registrar, it is published in the Official Gazette.
Any interested party may file a notice of opposition to the registration of the mark within three months from the publication date. The Registrar's decision concerning the opposition may be appealed to the Committee and the Committee's decision to the competent court. In the absence of opposition, a trademark is registered and the relative certificate of registration is issued.
A trademark registration is valid for 10 years as from the date of filing the application renewable for similar periods. The renewal fees of a trademark registration can be paid during the last six months of the final year of the protection period. A grace period of 6 months is allowed for late renewal with a fine.
The ownership of a registered trademark can be assigned with or without the goodwill of the commercial enterprise. Unless an assignment has been recorded in the register and published in the Trademark Journal, the assignment shall have no effect vis-à-vis third parties. Changes in the name and/or address of the registrant must be recorded in order to protect rights. Registered user agreements, licenses, and amendments that do not affect the identity of the mark substantially, limitation of the list of goods and/or services covered by a trademark registration can be recorded as well.
The use of a trademark is not compulsory for filing an application neither for registration nor for maintaining the registration in force. However, any interested party may request the court to cancel a trademark registration if the owner fails to use such a trademark in Turkey for 5 consecutive years from the date of registration. Illegal use of a registered trademark by an unauthorized person, use of a forged or counterfeit trademark, application to one's goods, a registered trademark belonging to another party in bad faith, dealing in products bearing a forged or counterfeited trademark, rendering services under a forged or counterfeit trademark, and use of a trademark that falls under certain categories of unpredictable marks are offenses punishable under the law in Turkey.
II. Patents
Once an application for the grant of a patent is filed, it is examined with respect to compliance with formalities and patentability provided for under the Patent Law including novelty, inventiveness (state-of-the-art) and industrial application. The Institute examines the compliance of the application to the formal requirements.
Should the examination results reveal that the application suffers formal deficiencies, or that the invention is not subject to patent protection, the examination procedure is suspended and the applicant is requested to remedy the deficiencies or to notify the Institute regarding his objections within the period set forth in the Regulations. Should the examination conducted by the Institute shows no deficiency as to formal requirements or when any such deficiency has been duly remedied and completed in accordance with the requirements, the Institute shall inform the applicant that the request, if not filed earlier, for conducting the Search on the State-of-the-Art, is to be filed within 15 months from the filing date. In the absence of opposition, the letters-patent or the utility certificate is issued.
Within 15 months from the date of filing the application, the applicant shall request the Institute to conduct the search on the State-of-the-art where priority is claimed, such period (15 months) runs as from the date of priority. There is a one month grace period after the expiration of this period to request the search. Failure to take action causes the lapse of the application.
After receiving the search report, the applicant must decide within three months whether to proceed with substantive examination or to request the grant of a patent without - or as a result of deferred-examination for a period of seven years. Should the applicant request a Substantive Examination, he/she shall request the Institute to conduct the examination after the six months following the publication of the State-of-the-art Search Report, when third parties may raise objections to the grant of the patent.
The Institute shall notify the applicant on the examination report it has established as to the deficiency or meeting of patentability requirements of the application, and shall grant the applicant six months for him to rectify the deficiency, or to amend the claim(s) and to object to it. During the prosecution of the granting procedure amendment of claims to rectify obvious errors such as spelling errors, providing of incorrect/inappropriate documents, the claim(s) may be amended only during the prosecution of the granting procedure. Also, transformation of a patent application into a utility model application is possible.
The Institute shall reach its final decision after examining the applicant's observations and, if any, the amendments made in the application. The decision of the Institute may consist in granting the patent for all or part of the claims. The application shall be open to public upon its publication, after the elapsing of a period of eighteen months from the date of filing the application or, if any, from the date of the claimed priority.
A patent is valid for 20 years and a utility certificate is valid for 10 years and is renewable for a period of no more than 5 years. Annuities are to be paid during the final three months of each year of the protection period. However, late payment of the annuities with a surcharge is allowed within 6 months from the lapse of the annuity due date. It is possible to pay the annual fees in advance to cover the whole or a part of the validity period in advance. The right to a patent may be assigned or licensed. An assignment shall have no effect against third parties unless it has been recorded at the Patent Office and published in the Official Gazette.
III. Designs and Industrial Models
Designs and industrial models are protectable in Turkey through registration with the competent office. The international Classification of Locarno is effective in Turkey as of November 1997.Once an application for the grant of a design is filed, it is examined with respect to compliance with formalities and patentability provided for under the Design Law including the novelty, and distinctiveness. Examination is conducted only in form by the Turkish Patent Institute prior to the registration.
Designs allowed for registration are published and thereby become open to opposition for a period of six months. However, at the request of the applicant, the publication may be postponed for up to thirty months from the filing date. If opposition by a third party is justified, the design is not registered. The registered design is protected for five years as from the filing date. This period may be renewed four times and the total protection period is twenty-five years.
The renewal application may be filed during the last six months of the five years period of protection. However, it may also be renewed with a fine, within six months from the expiration of the protection period. The registration, assignment and cancellation of design and industrial model registrations are published in the Official Gazette and entered in the register.
IV. Copyright
The Copyright Law No. 5846 in 1951 amended by Law No. 4630 on February 21, 2001, allows for copyrightable work in general and computer software in particular.
Original works of literature, art and science, regardless of type, importance or purpose are protected. This includes works of art expressed in writing, sound, drawings, photography and motion pictures, such as books, writings, speeches, oral works, plays, dramatic works, musical compositions, films, phonographic works, applied art, 3-D works and computer programs are protected for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years following his/her death. In order for protection to be effective, the work of art is to be original and includes personal effort, innovation and new arrangement. Any enforcement of the law is through the courts of Turkey.
V. Domain Names
Any legal entity that is established in any country could register domain names in Turkey. There is no limit to the number of domain names an entity can register so long as it is able to provide the required documentation. Only a second-level name can be registered (i.e., com.tr, net.tr, mil.tr, gov.tr, edu.tr, etc), the requirements are: a copy of the Trademark/name registrations as well as a simply signed Power of Attorney.
These documents should be submitted within 15 days from the filing date to avoid the cancellation of the domain name registrations. A Trademark application can be also acceptable for applying to a domain name, provided that both applications have to be identical. In case of any rejection to the Trademark application, the domain name shall be canceled within 30 days from that event.
For further information please contact the Turkey Office at the following email: agip.turkey@tagi.com