Application Processes
The Industrial Property Law numbered 6769 which has been accepted as draft regulations by The Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 22 December 2016, came into force as of 10 January 2017 and it was published in the Official Gazette on April 24, 2017.
Therefore the Decree-Law No. 551 Pertaining to the Protection of Patent Rights and it’s Implementing Provisions which were regulating the protection of the patents/ utility models before the Industrial Property Law was abolished. However, the applications filed before 10 January 2017 are still subject to the Decree-Law No. 551.
In accordance with the Implementation Regulations of the 6769 numbered Intellectual Property Law, the un-examined patent system is no more possible and the novelty search is a mandatory step for the utility models.
Some main steps related to patent and utility model applications can be seen under the below titles.
Patent processes;
Filing: Description, claims, abstract and the figures (if any) can be submitted in one of the official languages of the countries which are a party of The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”) or which implements Principle of Reciprocity while applying the application before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.
However, Turkish translation of the set of description must be submitted to the Office within 2 months after the application was filed.
Formal Examination: After filing, formal examination is conducted. In the formal examination; forms, the application fees, necessary documents are checked.
Search: If the formal examination result is positive, the patent must be sent to the search within 12 months starting from the application date. Otherwise application is deemed as withdrawn. Search is conducted about novelty and inventive step over the World by Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.
Publication: Patent application is published within 18 months after filing date or priority date, if any. Once patent application is published 3rd person may file own opinion about whether the application has the criterias of patentability or not before the Turkish Patent.
After the Search Report is informed, the applicant may file his opinions about the Search Report before the Turkish Patent.
Examination: Examination request must be made by applicant within 3 months after receiving the search report, otherwise the application is evaluated withdrawn. Examination is conducted for patentability criteria (novelty, inventive step, industrial applicability).
If the application or the invention is determined that it is not comply with the 6769 numbered Industrial Property Law, the applicant is informed about they can submit own opinions or conduct changes without exceeding the initial scope of the application, within 3 months after the notification date. Otherwise application is deemed withdrawn.
If the examination report prepared as a result of the examination specifies that the application and the related invention are comply with the 6769 numbered Industrial Property Law, validation of the patent is decided and informed to the applicant. Mentioned grant decision and patent is published before the Official Patent Bulletin.
In accordance with the examination report, if the changes are required for validating the patent, the applicant is requested to make the said changes within 2 months after notification date. If the changes conducted by applicant are accepted, the patent is granted and the grant decision is published before the Official Patent Bulletin. In case of the required changes were not made or the conducted changes are not accepted by the Office, the patent is evaluated withdrawn and the decision is informed to the applicant and published before the Official Bulletin.
At the examination report, if the application and the related invention are specified that they are not comply with the 6769 numbered and 22.12.2016 dated Industrial Property Law, the application is rejected by the Office and this decision is informed to the applicant and published before the Bulletin.
Certificate: After the publication of the grant decision, upon request and payment of the certificate fee, the certificate is sent to the applicant. This certificate is valid for 20 years as long as its annual fees are being paid in due time.
Oppositions against the Decisions of the Turkish Patent & Trademark Office
The applicant, patent owner or related third parties can object to the Office’s decisions, bordering on Article 99, within 6 months after notification date. The oppositions are examined by the Council. Office informs the opposition to the patent owner. Patent owner may file own opinions or may file amendments to the patent within three months from the notification date. Council examines the opposition of third party as taking into account of the opinions and amendments of patent owner.