Frequently Asked Questions

Being one of the industrial protection varieties, industrial design applications can be filed according to the Decree-Law No. 554 pertaining to the registration and the protection of industrial design in Turkey entered into force as from June 27, 1995.
Decree-Law No. 554 pertaining to “the Protection of Industrial Designs”, modeled after the white paper on the European Community Directive Proposal on the Legal Protection of Designs, permits the registration of same in this country.
In this regard, please note that prior to June 27, 1995, the registration of industrial designs was not possible for lack of specific law concerning the industrial designs in Turkey.
Industrial designs not registered in Turkey will continue to benefit from the protection of the general unfair competition provisions of the Turkish Code of Commerce according to Article 1, paragraph 2 of the Decree-Law No. 554 which in its paragraph 3 further provides that: “The rights conferred by this law does not in any way invalidate the protection conferred by Law (No. 5846) on the Works of Art and Intellect (as amended with Law No. 4110 of June 7, 1995)”.
The respective Implementing Regulations for this Decree-Law came into force on November 05, 1995 the latest update of which was published in the Turkish Official Journal No. 26073 dated 7 February 2006.

The following persons are entitled to protection and thereby qualified to obtain registration of their industrial designs in Turkey according to Articles 2 and 4 of the Decree-Law No. 554 reading as follows:
“Article 2 : The protection conferred by this law is available to the citizens of the Republic of Turkey or to natural and legal persons who are domiciled or who have industrial or commercial establishments within the territory of the Republic of Turkey, or to the persons entitled to file application under the provisions of the Paris or Bern Conventions or the Agreement Establishing World Trade Organization.
Natural or legal persons other than those referred in the first paragraph of this Article, who are nationals of states which accord legal and de facto protection to the nationals of the Republic of Turkey shall enjoy, according to the reciprocity principle, industrial design patent protection in Turkey.

According to the definitions retained in Article 3, paragraphs (a) and (b) of the Decree-Law No. 554:
a. “Design” means the entirety of the various features such as line/drawing, form, shape, colour, texture, elasticity, material or other characteristics perceived by the human senses in appearance in whole or part of a product or its ornamentation;
b. “Product” means any industrial or handicraft item, parts of a complex system, sets, compositions of items, packaging, get-ups, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, excluding the computer programmes and semi-conductor products”.
As part of the definition retained in Article 3, paragraph (b) “typographic typefaces” shall be registrable and enjoy protection according to the Decree-Law No. 554 whereas excluded from such protection are chip topographies and computer programs.

According to Article 12 “the term of protection of the registered design is five years from the date of filing of the application” and “is renewable for periods of five years each up to a total term of 25 years”. 

To enjoy industrial design protection in Turkey, the industrial designs to be registered must be new (Article 6) and must have a Distinctive Character (Article 7). It is to be noted that, the term “Distinctive Character” (Art. 7) meaning in Turkish “Ayırt Edici nitelik” has been given in the English translation prepared by the Turkish Patent Institute as “Individual Character” which in Turkish means “Özgün Nitelik”.
In the last paragraph of Article 7, rules that for determining, as of their entirety, the similarity between the concerned industrial designs, their common characteristics shall be taken into consideration in lieu of their differences, with a view to assess the liberty of choice at the disposition of the designer in developing the industrial design in question.
Pursuant to Article 6, paragraph 1 of the Decree-Law No. 554 for industrial design protection purposes the criterion of “absolute novelty” prevails; whether in respect of “novelty” or in respect of “distinctive character”, in that the concerned industrial design shall be deemed to be “new” if no identical industrial design has been made available to the public anywhere in the world prior to the date of filing of the industrial design  in Turkey or to the date of priority claimed, if any. In the sense of Article 6, paragraph 1 “industrial designs differing only immaterial details shall be deemed to be identical”.
The paragraph 2 of Article 6 further rules that :

-  “to make available to the public shall cover all such actions sale, offer for sale, use, description, publication, promotion/publicity, exhibition, demonstration and activities for similar purposes.”

-  “disclosures, of confidential nature, made to third parties shall not be considered as being made available to the public.”

According to Article 8, disclosures made available to the public with the consent of the designer or his successor(s) in title or by third parties in abuse of their relation with the designer or his successor(s) in title, within 12 months preceding the date of filing of the industrial design in Turkey or the date of priority claimed, if any, shall not be deemed to be destructive of the “novelty” and of the “distinctive character” of the concerned industrial design. 

The Turkish Patent Institute does not carry out an examination in respect of the criterion of “novelty” and “distinctive character” prior to the registration of the industrial design. The industrial design application is examined by the T.P.I. prior to its registration and publication for opposition purposes in consideration of the formal aspects/elements of the application. 

There is the possibility of filing multiple industrial design applications according to Article 28 in Turkey. This information must be given in the filing petition and each industrial design should have separate visual representations and description. The designs of a multiple industrial design application should be in the same Locarno sub-classification or be parts of a complex product or belong to a set or be perceived as a combination of multiple objects or representations. 

Following the registration of the industrial design, the Turkish Patent Institute shall not issue the Certificate of Industrial Design Patent but shall notify in lieu thereof that the industrial design has been registered. The Certificate of Industrial Design Patent shall issue, after the expiry of the opposition period of 6 months starting as from the publication of the registration of the industrial design in the Turkish Industrial Design Bulletin, provided no opposition is lodged within this time-period. Where an opposition is lodged, the Certificate of Design Patent shall issue or the industrial design registration shall be, partially or totally, cancelled, depending on the decision to be rendered by the Higher Council of Examination and Evaluation of the Turkish Patent Institute in consideration of the opposition lodged. 

The applicant may request in the industrial design filing petition in Turkey  the deferment of publication for a period not exceeding 30 months from the date of priority/filing of the application pursuant to Article 35 of the Decree-Law.  An industrial design application containing a request for deferment of publication shall be entered in the register after it has been awarded a date of filing; but neither the representation (picture, photograph, drawing) of the industrial design nor the name of the industrial design(s) relating to the industrial design  application are issued in the Official Industrial Design Bulletin and shall be open public inspection. At the expiry of the period of deferment, or at any earlier date on request by the right holder, the Turkish Patent Institute shall open to public inspection the file relating to the industrial design application and all entries in the register, and shall publish the registered industrial design(s) in Turkey.

As indicated on Article 26, paragraph 5, “The identity of the designer shall be cited in the application. If the applicant is not the designer or not the sole designer, a declaration shall be made in the application as to the grounds/means whereby the right to apply for design patent is obtained”. This information must be given in the industrial design filing petition in Turkey.
According to the Decree-Law No. 554 and the resulting current Administrative practice, this information pertaining to the (legal) relation between the designer(s) and the applicant as to the ownership of the industrial design and to the right to apply for an industrial design, is to be supplied on a declaratory basis. At present, no documentary evidence is required, to be submitted in support of the declaration (to be) made in this regard.

When the applicant of the claimed priority and the applicant in Turkey are not the same, a declaration must be filed simultaneously with the Turkish industrial design application as to the (legal) instrument/means according to which the applicant in Turkey has obtained the right to apply for an industrial design, the date when such right to apply is obtained and the name of the parties involved. 

A written description of the industrial design is to be filed with the industrial design application in accordance with Article 26, paragraph 2 of the Decree-Law No. 554 and Article 9 paragraph 1/c of the Implementing Regulations.
The length of the description of the industrial design having not been determined whether in the Decree-Law or in the Regulations, the description should preferably be rather concise and may consist of a few paragraphs, obviously depending on the features and complexity of the concerned industrial design(s). In multiple industrial design applications, a separate description is to be filed respectively for each one of the industrial design(s) filed under the same (multiple) application.
Main characteristics of a description may be summarized as follows:

  a. specifying the industrial design by explaining in detail the visual representations filed to this effect

  b. indicateing clearly, the differences between the industrial design as filed and the industrial designs available/known to the public and

  c. not including technical or functional details. 

According to Article 9 paragraph 1/a of Implementing Regulations to Decree-Law No. 554 pertaining to the protection of industrial designs in Turkey, requirements pertaining to visual representations in an industrial design application are as follows:

 - Visual representations of industrial design should be submitted on a plane background  in at least 8 cm. x 8 cm. and at the most in 16 cm x 16 cm can be prepared as drawing, picture, graphic, photograph or a similar way, but must clearly show all special characteristic of the industrial design and must be suitable to publish
 - For three dimensional industrial designs, visual representations that show all aspects of  the industrial designs clearly are to be filed
 - In multiple industrial design applications, separate sets of visual representations must be filed for each industrial design filed under the same multiple industrial design application in Turkey.
 - It is not accepted to place more than one figure in the same visual representation

Yes, a power of attorney is required during filing of an industrial design application in Turkey which does not need to be notarial or otherwise legalized for filing the application. However, the withdrawal of the industrial design application or the voluntary cancellation of an industrial design registration necessitates the filing of a notarial legalized Power of Attorney. 

The Power of Attorney that could not be submitted simultaneously with the  industrial design filing petition is requested by an administrative notification of the Turkish Patent Institute within two months as from the date of the mentioned notification. 

According to Article 31, parag. 2 of the Decree-Law No. 554 pertaining to the protection of industrial designs in Turkey,  the priority shall be deemed not to have been claimed, if the priority document (attesting same) is not submitted within three months as from the date of filing of the industrial design application in Turkey.
In case the certified copy of the claimed priority is not filed before the Turkish Patent Institute . by this deadline, the industrial design application is further prosecuted as a non-convention application, without the benefit of the claimed priority(ies).

The opposition as provided in Article 37 of the Decree-Law is a post-registration opposition (and not a pre-registration one) in that, opposition may be lodged against a registered industrial design within 6 months following the publication of same in the Official Industrial Designs Bulletin in Turkey. In consideration of the opposition lodged, Turkish Patent Institute  may decide to maintain or to invalidate the industrial design registration, whether totally or partially. 

As the industrial design is registered and issues without a prior examination in respect of novelty and distinctive character, if no opposition is timely lodged within 6 months from the publication in the Official Industrial Design Bulletin, the cancellation of the industrial design on ground of lack of “novelty” and/or “distinctive character” can be obtained only upon a court decision following the cancellation action instituted to this effect. 

According to Article 58, paragraphs 1 and 2, in all court actions (to be) instituted in accordance of the Decree-Law No. 554 and against all decisions of the Turkish Patent Institute  in implementing the provisions of the Decree-Law No. 554, the competent courts shall be the specialized courts.
Both civil and criminal actions regarding Intellectual and Industrial property rights in Turkey are handled by the “Civil Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property and Criminal Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property” established as specialized courts. Said courts are presently only established in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir.
Currently for the jurisdictions other than Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir, in the jurisdictions having more than one penal and/or civil court, according to the decision of the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors, the 3rd Penal Court hears the penal actions for all Intellectual and Industrial Property rights win Turkey whereas the civil actions are distributed amongst the 3rd  Civil Courts of the jurisdiction.
The specialized court in Ankara is competent also for all actions to be instituted versus Turkish Patent Institute  by third persons negatively affected or having suffered damage by the decisions of the T.P.I.