Patent Protection in Turkey

     Patent protection in Turkey is based on the Decree Law No: 551 Pertaining to the Protection of Patent Rights which was entered into force on June 27, 1995. The Articles 43, 53, 57, new Article 73/A and 174 have been amended/added/repealed by the law no: 4128 of November 7, 1995 The Transitional Article 4 which is related to patent protection of pharmaceutical processes and products has been amended by the Decree Law No: 566 dated September 22, 1995.

  Patent protection system of Turkey is compatible to the provisions of European Patent Convention and Patent Co-operation Treaty and Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain systems.

The provisions of Turkish Patent System are summarized below;

• Formal examination, search report and substantial examination
• Patentability criteria (novelty, inventive step, industrial applicability)
• Availability of Utility Model Certificate for 10 years protection (not for chemicals and pharmaceuticals)
• Granting by non-examination (with search report) and examination (with examination report) system
• Publication of the applications and search reports
• Opposition by third parties after publication (pregrant opposition)
• Protection terms starting from date of application (7 years for non-examined patents, 10 years for utility models and 20 years for examined patents)
• Compulsory License provisionas compatible to TRIPS Agreement
• Modern provisions for enforcement such as; compensation of damages against infringement, documents Evidencing Infringement, Non-realised income and increasing the non-realised income, reputation of the invention, economical sunctions, fines and penalties
• Publication of Court’s Decision