Novartis loses a Glivec patent case in Turkey

The Turkish Constitutional Court has ruled that there has been no violation of the property rights due to the invalidation of one of "Glivec®" patents of Novartis in Turkey.

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis filed an international patent application (International patent application no. PCT/EP2003/004151) designating, among others, the European Patent Office (EPO) on 22 April 2003, the active agent of which is "imatinib mesylate", for use in the treatment of chronic mycloid leukaemia and gastrointestinal stromal tumours. The patent case is related to one of the patents for the drug trademarked "Glivec®" (as known in Europe) and "Gleevec®" (as known in the USA).

Novartis proceeded to the regional phase at the EPO and the EPO granted the patent (European patent no. EP 1 501 485 B1) for that and mentioned the grant in 2007 in the European Patent Bulletin. After the EPO’s grant, Novartis duly validated the European patent in Turkey, one of the contracting states of the European Patent Convention (Turkish Patent No. 2007 06715).

The invalidation of the patent requested

A competitor company has taken invalidation action against Novartis’ patent before the Turkish IP Court, i.e. Istanbul Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights Court, in 2008. The competitor argued that the subject matter of the patent was already known in the art and disclosed by the patents granted in 1992 and 1998. Therefore, it claimed that the use of the substance of the patent is not novel for use in the treatment of leukaemia and the preparation of the tablet according to the dosage for use should not be considered as “invention”.

The court in charge received an expert report issued by a panel of experts consisting of two pharmaceutical professors and a chemical engineer. The report argued that the methods described in the patent did not exceed the state of the art, and were lack of novelty and inventive step. Novartis raised objection against the report and the Court received a supplementary expert report from the same panel of experts. The supplementary report has confirmed the main report. On 24 January 2013, the Court accepted the case based on the expert report and invalidated the patent due to the lack of novelty and inventive step.

Novartis filed appeal against the first instance decision before the 11th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals but the Supreme Court approved the decision of the first instance court in 2014.

Individual application

Novartis filed an individual application at the Constitutional Court in 2015 claiming that the right to property was violated by the invalidation.

It also filed a complaint alleging that the right to a fair trial was violated because of the refusal of compensation action that it has filed against the experts on the grounds that they had issued a false report.

Opinion of the Ministry of Justice

The Constitutional Court asked an opinion from the Ministry of Justice. In the opinion regarding the individual application that the Ministry of Justice sent to the Constitutional Court, it was said that the decision of invalidity had been aimed at the public interest.

Novartis stated that the Ministry had overlooked the fact of issuance of a false report by the experts, and the Judges who gave the decision have been arrested for other crimes out of the case.

No violation of property rights

The Constitutional Court concluded that the property rights had not been violated. The allegation of violation of the right to a fair trial was not accepted due to the lapse of time.

The Constitutional Court has stated that patent protection is not provided for every invention as they can be only patented provided that they are novel and have inventive step and industrial applicability pursuant to Industrial Property Law No. 6769.

The Constitutional Court has also said that the public authorities had no direct interference with the property rights of Novartis in a dispute between the private entities. The Court has also opinioned that in the disputes between the private entities, the legislator and the courts of instance have the power to judge on which parties would come superior and this should be made by balancing the interests of the parties as much as possible.

In the reasoned decision, the following judgment took place:

"It is for sure that the patent invalidation has led to a burden in terms of the applicant company, but it has been prescribed that the inventions in the field of technology may be patented provided that they are novel and involve an inventive step and industrial applicability. Keeping the inventions, which are determined to be incompatible with these conditions, out of the scope of the patent protection is important in terms of protecting the rights and interests of the third parties, as in the present case. Particularly, it should be noted that the public authorities have wide power of assessment in determining the scope of the patent rights. Considering the facts that the public authorities have a certain discretion over which inventions need to be taken under the scope of patent protection and the determination of this scope significantly affects the rights and interests of the third parties, it was concluded that the positive obligations of the state have been fulfilled in relation to property rights in respect of the case where the patent rights were invalidated on the grounds that the conditions prescribed under the Patent Law have not been met."

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TURKPATENT has reduced some of official fees up to 40%

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) reduced some official fees up to 40%. New fees were published on September 05, 2018 in the Turkish Official fees.

The discount covers patent filing fee, patent registration fee, assignment fee, 1 to 10 years patent annuities, trademark filing fee, trademark registration, trademark renewal fee, design filing fee, design renewal fee.

The discount decision has come forward due to extreme depreciation of Turkish lira. The Turkish lira fell up to 20% versus the dollar last month after President Donald Trump said he would double the rates of tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum.

Reducing the official fees on patents, trademarks and designs, TURKPATENT aims to support the enterprises in their search for protecting their new inventions and brands as well as maintaining their registered ones.

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TURKPATENT established a public company for commercialization of the IP rights

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) has established a public company for commercializing the industrial property rights, i.e. patents, utility models, trademarks, designs and geographical signs. The company is named "Turkish Industrial Property Valuation and Consulting Engineering Services Inc. (TÜRKSMD).”

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, the President of TURKPATENT has stated that Turkey has currently 1 million 600 thousand registered industrial property inventory and they are passively staying on the shelves and have not been passed on to the real sector, the established companies will contribute to the transfer to the real sector of the property products.

The objective of TÜRKSMD is to assess industrial property assets of the real and legal entities and ensure commercialization of the patented work growing out of R & D.

Ankara-based Company will provide the following services:

• Providing venture capital, investment trusts, funds, and joint finance to the start-ups supported by angel investors.
• Providing valuation and consultancy services in the field of industrial property, training and accreditation activities for institutions, organizations and initiatives, and expertise services in valuing industrial property rights.
• Preparing feasibility reports for the selection of computer software and hardware for the public, private and legal entities and will provide R & D activities, engineering, consultancy, training, support and service.
• Providing all kinds of engineering services both in Turkey and abroad. TÜRKSMD will provide engineering services for the creation, development and revision of the intellectual and industrial rights, and will carry out the processes by providing advisory services within the registering and protection of the rights.
• Providing consulting services to government agencies, legal entities and real persons through the provision of national and international information on commercial and industrial relations, patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial rights, human relations, business administration, marketing, investment, globalization and finance.
• Conducting researches and preparing reports about the services in foreign countries and will provide consultancy services in the field of software consultancy, patent and trademark valuation services in view of the fields of international law and trade.

In order to realize its aims, TÜRKSMD will establish all kinds of partnerships with domestic and foreign capital companies at home and abroad.

TÜRKSMD will be able to enter the tender in and out of the country and use its rights by establishing facilities, buying, selling, renting businesses, exporting, importing goods and undertaking the projects. The Company will be also able to register and sell these licenses, patents, trademarks, designs and business rights, both directly and indirectly, on behalf of the Company, by the contracts.

Source: A.A.

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Digital Transformation in TURKPATENT

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) has announced that "Digital Archive Project", which was launched in 2015 to transfer approximately 65 million page documents in TURKPATENT's archives to electronic media was completed as from the end of 2017.

In the official announcement, it was mentioned that by scanning the physical archives and transferring them to the electronic medium, the physical movement of the files was minimised, as well as a faster and safer environment for the operations has been provided.

TURKPATENT also stated that e-invoices and e-book applications, where software are completed in line with the goal of realising all internal and external services and transactions in an electronic environment, have been also put into use.

According to the announcement, most of the services of TURKPATENT have been integrated into the e-government gate.

"In order to maintain service quality in view of the increasing workload, the works for the modernisation to establish a modular, expandable and scalable structure to meet the needs in the near future have been made. This will provide high performance, uninterrupted communication with the existing structure that has completed its technological lifetime. In the first months of 2018, the project is planned to be put into life." said TURKPATENT.

Source: TURKPATENT

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Turkish inventions will be exhibited in Geneva

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office is participating in the 46th International Exhibition of  Inventions of Geneva in Switzerland, from April 11th to April 15th, 2018, with three domestic inventors and their inventions. Various 1000 inventions of more than 700 participants from 45 countries will be introduced during the exhibition organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The exhibition, attracting the attention of industrialists, investors, businessmen in search of innovation, allows the inventors to introduce their inventions and have financial support for commercializing their inventions. In the exhibition, outstanding inventions are awarded in various categories.

In the last year's exhibition, Turkish inventors:

• İlter DENİZOĞLU won "Gold" prize and Special Award for Medical Science of Gulian University of Islamic Republic of Iran  and the special award of China's Delegation,
• Gül Bahar BAŞIM, Sabri Orçun ORHAN, Zeynep ÖZDEMİR, Özkan BEBEK won "Gold" prize and the special award of Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation of Romania,
• Ezgi YELEKOĞLU & Altuğ TOPRAK won the "Silver" prize and the special award of China's Delegation.

The following inventions will be exhibited in the boot of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office during the exhibition of this year.

"Settable Pot" by Arife Sare AYDIN, Inventor

This invention relates to a pot containing a stirrer which is connected to the lid to allow the meal to be stirred at a constant speed while being cooked, and controlled by means of a setting mechanism. Said pot comprises a stirrer which performs the mixing process, a setting mechanism providing movement to the said stirrer, and a lid on which the said components are carried.

"Desktop thermoelectric ice machine" by Raşit AHISKA, Inventor

This invention is an easily portable desktop thermoelectric ice machine which produces ice in a very short time by converting electrical energy from the electric network or battery directly into the cold by means of a thermoelectric module consisting of N and P-type semiconductors without using intermediates. In the designed device, a small amount of clean water is automatically or manually placed in the high-heat-conducting ice container (cooler compartment) to produce ice within 1-3 minutes in a needed amount for cooling a person's drink, and the device is operated with a battery or mains voltage. 30-50 gr of ice, which is the average amount of ice needed to cool a drink in a beverage at one time, is herein produced in 1-3 minutes and can be served automatically or manually. The ice container of the device is cooled by a specially designed single thermoelectric module. Special battery or special SMPS power supply is used to operate the module. A special temperature control circuit is used to keep the device's electricity consumption to a minimum. A heat transfer system having a specially designed heat pipe is used to keep the heating surface of the module at ambient temperature.

"Road safety system for uneven roads" by Adnan Kal and Uğur Kal, Inventors

This invention relates to a road safety system for uneven roads, by which the vehicles exceeding the speed limit are trembled and drawn to the level of the speed limit.

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Domestic cancer drugs to be produced and patented

The following is the translation of the news published on Turkish daily "Sabah" on March 05, 2018. Please click here to find the original publication.

Turkey has given a start for the domestic production of cancer drugs. The world-wide famous pharmaceutical companies have been invited for the cancer drugs that will be produced locally from molecules to patent.

The government, after defence industry and renewable energy, will give Turkey's biggest incentive for domestic production of the drugs to the pharmaceutical industry.

Health  Economic Coordination Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek has decided to invite the world's pharmaceutical giants for domestic production and partnership.

Turkey imports cancer drugs, including the side treatments, of 2.5 billion Turkish liras each year. Domestically producing the cancer drugs, for which there is currently 100% dependency on the foreigners, Turkey would make a leap on the world drugs market and the dependency on such strategic product would end. 

The Government will call the world's pharmaceutical giants to Turkey for their producing domestic cancer drugs. The world's big pharmaceutical companies like Novartis and Roche will be invited to found factories in Turkey for producing cancer drugs in Turkey. The Government will give the purchase guarantee to the firm which gives the best offer. The R&D of the pharmaceutical industry will be developed. Turkish engineers will take place in the R&D works. "Know-how" environment will be created to allow domestic firms to produce cancer drugs. If pharmaceutical is patented in Turkey, it will be deemed to be as Turkey's export, without regarding where it was sold around the world. Thus, Turkey would become among the countries exporting high-tech products in the pharmaceutical industry.

The Health Economy Coordination Board has already put the blood plasmas, which were among imported products, into the domestic production, for a 7-year purchase guarantee. Thanks to the domestic plasmas production made with the domestic partner, it is expected that it would be shortly among the export items, coming out of import items. After the vaccines, cancer drugs, the patent of which will belong to Turkey, may be domestically produced. Turkey is allocating a budget of 25 billion dollars for the drug each year and more than half of it is imported from abroad. Turkey aims to become the most powerful production centre in the Middle East with its domestic pharmaceutical industry.

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Its domestic was 11,00 TRY, but now 303,00 EURO

The following news was published in Turkish daily "Vatan" on 19 February 2018 (please click here to see the original publication) and should not be associated with the owner of the blog. The translation of the news is presented in this blog for information only and does not necessarily mean that we agree with the arguments made thereby.

As the bureaucracy, about whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told "they fasten our feet in shackles," could not show the national and domestic reflexes as in the defence industry, the pharmaceutical market has been overtaken by US and European pharmaceutical companies. Turkey spends 25 billion TRY on pharmaceutical a year. 95 of the 100 pharmaceuticals that have the highest turnover are imported. They earn 7 billion Turkish Lira over 100 products yearly.

Pharmaceutical cartels are comfortable enough to prevent local manufacturers by obtaining new patents and licenses, ie claiming that leukaemia medicine is good for stomach cancer. The domestic producer is trying to survive despite bureaucratic obstacles.

Those who fail to resist either sell their factories or become a subcontractor. The practices of Turkish Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (TİTCK) cause the reactions.

The Medical Bureaucracy's regulations affecting the pharmaceutical market since 2016 have brought the domestic leap made during the last 15 years to the ending point.

The new regulations, general guidelines, guidelines for harmonisation with the EU, which contradict the AK Party's national and national policies and government programs, left the players of the domestic sector helpless against the global corporations.

In view of the Global Pharmaceutical  Report, prepared to guide the global pharmaceutical companies that are monopolised in the world, the bureaucracy taking the steps projected between 2017 and 2021 one by one served Turkey to the global players.

Since the positive discrimination to the domestic pharmaceuticals has come to end, some of the domestic companies either became a subcontractor or they came out from the industry by selling foreign factories as they could not compete with global companies.

Global companies are now pulling out any pharmaceuticals out of the market and the citizens who do not the truth wail and confront the government. On the other hand, they are making billions.

LOCAL PRODUCTS TO BE COLLECTED

Since Turkey's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (TİTCK) put "the Guideline for the Procedures and Principles of the Priority Assessment Board for Human and Medical Products" into force in 2016, the domestic pharmaceutical industry is having a hard time.

While domestic firms were given priority as from 2002 upon the order of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the special inspections were applied against the imported products. This reversed, however, with the effects of the guidelines issued two months before the July 15 coup attempt in 2016. Domestic producers became unable to take priority in the authorisation process.

The marketing authorisations which were granted on the domestic producers before are being invalidated by the introduction of the marketing authorisation regulations and applications in compliance with Europe on the grounds of harmonisation with the EU and many pharmaceuticals produced by the domestic firms due to the lapse of patent term is under the risk of confiscation.

EU HARMONIZATION PROCESS' COMPLETED

Turkey, which started to accession negotiations with EU on 3 October 2005, had fulfilled its obligations relating to the Health Chapter and that chapter has been closed with success. In fact, a much better health system was established than in European countries.

However, since May 2016, EU harmonisation, the bureaucratic claim that "domestic industry is creating unnecessary workload by taking unnecessary marketing authorisations " and the amendments related to re-applications for authorisation, all these have made Turkey's pharmaceutical policy dependent on the foreigners. With the slot application which only allows applying for authorisation during certain months of the year, the access to the pharmaceutical authorisation of the domestic industry is prevented.

LICENSE CHARGES SOARED

It is stated that the pricing procedures applied in the process of pharmaceutical marketing authorisation, especially, have hit R&D investments. With the price list published in September 2017, the fees paid at the end of the authorisation proceedings were started to be received at the beginning of the proceedings.

This will put domestic producers, who pay fees for the pharmaceuticals that are not certain to get authorisation, into even more difficulty.

In the price list published in 2018, it is required exorbitant consultation fees, which are not even required in Europe. TICKK added a fee in the tariff under the name of "Scientific Advisory Fee", which amounts to 50.000,00 TRY per consultation.

The same fee being received for the pharmaceutical, total turnover of which is expected around 100.000,00-200.000,00 TRY, and the pharmaceutical making billions turnover, a box of which is 100.000,00 TRY, has immediately daunted the domestic pharmaceutical producers.

TWO DIFFERENT PRICES FOR THE SAME PRODUCT

Each medicine has a patent life of 20 years. While the domestic firm is preparing the product the patent terms of which lapsed, the foreign company is getting a second patent claiming that the pharmaceutical recovers a different disease as well. In this way, the patent term is extended and the domestic firms are prevented to produce. The most important example of these patent games is Glivec-named cancer pharmaceutical.

For Glivec presented to the market for patients with leukaemia, no difference is received from the patients and the entire cost of the medicine is covered by SGK. However, the company is collecting the price difference, it can not get from leukaemia patients, through "secondary indications usage patents".

TIME EXTENDED UNDER THE PRETEXT OF CANCER

Novartis, the manufacturer of the pharmaceutical , has obtained patent for secondary use of the same pharmaceutical, which is claimed to be good for the gastrointestinal cancer as well, at the Patent Office and asked a new price for the pharmaceutical for the uses of gastrointestinal cancer patients by filing application with Turkey Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency. The company, whose application was accepted, started to get a difference of 397,00 TRY from stomach cancer patients. Glivec is sold to the state for 2 thousand by 384,00 TRY.

SGK is paying the entire price of the pharmaceutical while purchasing it for leukaemia patients. In the case of stomach cancer subject to the second use indications patent, the state pays 1.987,00 TRY. The difference of 397,00 TRY is collected from the citizen.

The fact that the 2017-2021 Global Pharmaceutical Report (IMS), prepared to guide global pharmaceutical companies for their actions around the world, has mentioned in respect of Turkey that it is expected that global products will be given priority for accelerated licensing period, brought the allegations that the law and regulations of "prioritisation" implemented since 2016 and hitting the domestic pharmaceuticals have been prepared by lobbying activities of the consulting firms in Turkey of the global companies.

ITS DOMESTIC WAS 11,00 TRY, AND NOW 303,00 TRY

One of the most concrete consequences of the bureaucracy's surrendering to the global pharmaceutical companies and the current situation of the domestic pharmaceutical is the Mestinon named pharmaceutical.

Until a few years ago when the domestic production in Turkey was encouraged and the importation was subject to the tight sanctions, the license of  Mestinon tablets produced in Turkey by Roche was sold to the Sweden company "Meda".

Well after the import barriers are removed, Meda has finalised its production in Turkey and started to produce the product in its factories abroad and sell to the pharmacies in Turkey.

  

When the alternative payment channel only allowing the importation for emergency situations is expanded, the company has cut off the importation.

The product sold for 11,00 TRY when it is produced in Turkey can be only brought through an alternative payment channel. The price of one box of the product is 303 euro.

ONE BOX COSTS 49.000,00 TRY

There are 6328 pharmaceutical items in Turkey's pharmaceutical market. When these pharmaceuticals are arrayed from the expensive to the cheap, one box of the cheapest of the first 20 pharmaceuticals cost 11,00 TRY. Harvoni 90 Mg / 400 Mg 28 Film Tablet, the first in the row, is priced at 49.750,00 TRY as of today. We need to pay more than 6.000,00 TRY today for a box of this medicine sold to 44.000,00 TRY yesterday.

Despite the sale of only 162 boxes of this pharmaceutical, 6.700.000,00 TRY turnover was obtained in 2017. It is stated that the cost of this pharmaceutical used by advanced hepatitis C patients does not even reach 1.500,00 TRY. Today it is reported that there are more than 500000 patients who may have benefit from the use of this medicine. This means that we will spend a much higher amount tomorrow for Hepatitis C patients at baseline we cannot treat today because of the inhibition of the development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry.

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The decisions of Intellectual and Industrial Property Courts of Turkey will become electronically accessible

Ministry of Justice of Turkey has gradually started to give online access to the decisions of intellectual property and industrial property rights courts and the commercial civil courts for allowing the investors informed of the judicial processes.

As a beginning, the decisions of certain courts will be accessible. In course of time, the decisions of  all the commercial and intellectual and industrial property courts will be available to the public through the Ministry's online platform.

Ministry of Justice initiated the project, within the framework of the works of the Coordination Council for the Improvement of the Investment Environment (YOIKK) and the Ministry's Strategic Action Plan, in order for the business to reach the judicial decisions.

The project is aimed for providing transparency in commercial court cases and making those who are would invest in Turkey informed of the judicial process in the country.

Ministry has designated Istanbul as pilot region and created a new field within the National Judiciary Information System  (UYAP) for the publication of the decisions of the 34 Commercial Civil Courts and 4 Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights Civil Courts in Istanbul, The decisions of the said courts have been given access to through National Judiciary Information System (emsal.uyap.gov.tr).The decisions of five chambers of the Istanbul District Justice Court, which is the Second Instance Court, has been also provided access.

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TURKPATENT has opened "Patent Training Unit" for the secondary and university students

In cooperation with Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TÜRKPATENT) and General Directorate for Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education, a patent training unit (Patent Workshop) within the organizational body of TURKPATENT has been opened to provide interactive patent search and practice training for the secondary students and university students.

The unit will guide the students about patent applications, patentability issues, collecting patent information, accessing to patent information databases. The project is intended to be applied at all layers of education, including kindergartens, in the future.

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TURKPATENT has brought clarification regarding the search and preliminary examination fees

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) has announced that the applicants of the international patent applications (so-called PCT applications) should pay the search and preliminary examination fees in PCT Fee Tables declared by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) where TURKPATENT is designated as International Search Authority (ISEA) or International Preliminary Examination Authority (IPEA). TURKPATENT has also officially stated that the search and preliminary examination fees include VAT. The announcement has taken place in Turkish Official Gazette dated 13 February 2018 and will be valid as from 01 January 2018.

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Turkey is expanding the scope of its Patent Support Program to increase the patenting activity in the country

Patent Support Program, which is conducted in cooperation with The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT), has been amended.

TUBITAK and TURKPATENT signed a new protocol on February 08, 2018 to expand the scope of the patent supports.

Within the scope of the Program, all the costs for international patent applications and international search reports under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) will be funded by TUBITAK provided that Turkish applicants select TURKPATENT as International Search Authority (ISEA) and International Examination Authority (IPEA).

With the amendment of the Program, TUBITAK has included China and South Korea among the countries (USA, EPO, JAPAN) in which the costs for patent applications filed by Turkish citizens or those whose place of business are located in Turkey are supported.

TUBITAK has also substantively increased the amount of the funds paid to Turkish Patent Attorneys / Turkish Patent Agents for their professional development and supporting the inventors.

The cooperation between TUBITAK and TURKPATENT also contributes to the development of TURKPATENT's strong position among international patent offices

The numbers of patent applications filed in Turkey and in the world by the Turkish applicants are quite a low, compared to trademark and design applications of the country. Turkey would like to promote inventive activity and patenting activity by developing new innovation programs.

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Summit on Artificial Intelligence, Industry 4.0. and Intellectual Property Law to be held on February 12th, 2018

"Summit on Artificial Intelligence, Industry 4.0. and Intellectual Property Law", organized by Research and Application Center for Intellectual and Industrial Rights (FISAUM) of Ankara University in Turkey, will be held on February 12th, 2018. During the summit, the facts of AI and Industry 4.0.will be academically discussed for the first time in Turkey in the context of general legal aspects and of intellectual property law in particular.

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Turkey tops trademark filings in Europe in 2017

Prof. Dr. Habib Asan, the President of Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT), has given an interview regarding the industrial property activities and statistics in 2017 to Turkey's official news agency, Anadolu Agency (AA), on 26 January 2017.

Here are the highlights from the President's interview with the AA:

• Total 121,108 trademark applications, (of which 106,099 are domestic and 15,009 are foreign) were filed last year. 88% of total trademark applications are of native origin and the number of the application increased 13% compared to the previous year 2016. With these figures, Turkey has once again become the country in Europe where the highest numbers of trademark applications were filed the last year.
• Total of 19,283 patent applications were filed with TURKPATENT in 2017, of which 8,625 are domestic and 10,658 are foreign. With those figures, domestic patent applications increased by 34 percent compared to 2016. The increase rate is a pleasing development, as total 50 thousand patent applications are aimed for till 2023 in parallel to Turkey's 2023 goals declared by the Turkish Government.
• Total 3,320 utility model applications, of which 3,256 are domestic and 64 are foreign, were filed in 2017.
• Total 46,853 design applications, of which 39,172 are domestic and 1,066 are foreign (made through WIPO), were filed in 2017 in Turkey.
• Total 12,424 patent applications (1,964 domestic and 10,460 foreign), 85,573 trademark applications (77,394 domestic and 8,179 foreign), 44,214 design applications (37,280 domestic and 6,934 foreign), and 2,088 utility model applications (2,014 domestic and 74 foreign) were registered in 2017 in Turkey.
• TURKPATENT performed 7,259 searches and examinationS in 2017.
• Turkey has issued important laws and regulations in 2017, such as Industrial Property Code.

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Turkish Plant Variety Office has announced its new schedule of fees for 2018.

Turkish Plant Variety Office (also known as Central Directorate for Seed Registry and Certification (TTSMO)) announces its schedule of fees at the beginning of each year. The Office has announced its new schedule of fees on 17 January 2018. The schedule of fees can be found by clicking here.

The Office has also published a separate announcement regarding the requirement for the payment of annuities of the plant varieties which were registered in the earlier years. It calls the owners of the plant varieties to pay the annuities till 31 January 2018 and inform the Office of the payment. The Office has published a list covering all the registered plant varieties and the required amount of annuities for each registered varieties.

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Twitter's long struggle to register Periscope in Turkey

Twitter is not able to register its brand Periscope for live broadcasting and streaming services in Turkey.

The recent court decision has confirmed that the trademark application filed by Twitter for Periscope is not allowable due to earlier registered trademark rights of third parties.

Twitter filed a trademark application in Classes 9, 35, 38, 41, 42, 45 for Periscope in 2015 in Turkey. Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) only allowed registration of the mark "Periscope" for the services commercial data analysis and commercial advisory in Class 35 after ex-officio decision based on absolute grounds and long opposition proceedings due to oppositions filed by third parties. Subsequently, Twitter filed revocation action against the decision of TURKPATENT before Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights Civil Court of Ankara (Court No. 2 - First Instance Court). The First Instance Court has recently confirmed that the decision of TURKPATENT is in place, and refused Twitter's claims. Twitter can bring the case to Second Instance Court for further consideration.

Twitter is currently unable to broadcast under the brand name of Periscope in Turkey. Instead, it uses the brand name Scope, Twitter user name @prscptr and the domain name www.pscp.tv for its live stream and broadcasting services in Turkey due to another ongoing court action (infringement action) filed by a local company holding trademark registration for Periscope in classes 38 and 41 since 2010.

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Turkish Patent and Trademark Office has released a revised version of its Strategy Document setting out its objectives for the next 5 years.

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) is regularly preparing and releasing strategy documents setting out objectives and goals every five years.

The Strategy Document for five years had been already issued early last year. However, as the Law regarding the establishment and tasks of the Office changed just at the beginning of the last year (on January 10, 2017), it has become a requirement to revise the Strategy Document issued in 2017 in compliance with the new obligations of TURKPATENTbrought by the new Law.

The revised Strategy Document will be implemented between 2018 and 2022 in order to plan and carry out the works during the subject years.

While preparing the Strategy Document, the plans of earlier years, opinions of the stakeholders, the surveys, and workshops have been taken into consideration.

The Document states that TURKPATENT will perform its objectives and take necessary actions in compliance with its mission and vision statements as quoted below:

Mission

Contributing to the effective protection and commercialization of industrial property rights and serving to the economic and technological development of our country by increasing the awareness of industrial property in all layers of the society and being active in international platforms in the field of industrial property.

 Vision

Being an Office contributing to the improvement of Turkey's intellectual capital and innovation capacity and giving direction to national and international policy in industrial property

The Document specifically emphasizes the values of the TURKPATENT, which are reliability, impartiality, customer orientation, quality, effective and fast service, solution-oriented approach, openness to change and innovation, employee oriented approach, openness to cooperating with stakeholders, efficiency in international relations, accessibility, and states that the objectives of the Plan will be realized on the basis of those values adopted by the Office.

Also, the Document makes a comprehensive analysis regarding the current situation, comprising historical developments, laws in force, services currently provided by the Office, the position of the stakeholders, the inner structure of TURKPATENT, and outside conditions affecting the industrial property in Turkey and around the world.

After comprehensively analyzing the current situation and affairs, the Document sets out the objectives, goals and indicators and strategies. It makes 5 objectives as summarized below:

• Carrying out the services of the industrial property rights qualified, effectively and fastly.
• Raising the awareness of industrial property rights in the public.
• Making the industrial property rights into the economic benefits.
• Actively taking place in the international arena and guiding to the country in the industrial property issues.
• Making the institutional capacity strengthened.

To realize these five objectives, TURKPATENT is projected to take actions within the scope of 17 goals as summarized below:

• Increasing customer satisfaction
• Enhancing the alignment with the judicial decisions
• Providing all the services electronically
• Developing the system of the attorneys
• Raising the awareness of the industrial property in the public.
• Supporting scientific studies in the field of industrial property.
• Commercializing the inventions
• Promoting the branding
• Increasing the effectiveness of geographical indications and traditional products.
• Promoting the creation of the original designs
• Increasing the capacity to establish international patent search and examination
• Increasing the effectiveness of platforms gathering the industrial property stakeholders
• Participating in the International events to increase the effectiveness of the country on intellectual property matters
• Consolidating the human resources infrastructure.
• Strengthening IT infrastructure
• Strengthening IT infrastructure
• Developing a planned institutional culture

The Strategy Document also makes reference to the 10th Development Plan of Turkey setting out the following objectives.

• The main objective is to increase the contribution of intellectual property rights and products subject to these rights to the development process, through creating a common and socially adopted system for the use and protection of intellectual property rights.
• Adequate human and institutional capacity will be created in the relevant units of public sector dealing with protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, in particular in the judiciary, customs and constabulary.
• Service capacity will be improved in technology transfer and innovation centres to make businesses benefit effectively from the intellectual property rights system and its subsidies.
• The effectiveness of existing mechanisms in the commercialization of intellectual property rights will be improved.
• Public awareness of the intellectual property rights system will be increased by promotional and educational activities at all levels.
• Identification, monitoring and evaluation of contribution of the works and products subject to intellectual property rights to the national economy will be provided, and information and data infrastructure will be strengthened.

The Document finally sets forth the financial resources to realize the objectives and goals set by TURKPATENT.

To summarize, TURKPATENT aims to improve the capacity and qualification of its human resources, provide all its services electronically and raise public awareness on the intellectual and industrial property issues within next 5 years.

The text of the Strategy Document can be downloaded by clicking here.

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Turkish Patent and Trademark Office has announced its performance goals for 2018.

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) conventionally announces its performance goals and objectives at the beginning of each year. TURKPATENT has released its Performance Document on 11 January 2018.

In the preface of the Document, Chief Executive of TURKPATENT states that the document covers 48 activities which are planned to be performed within the scope of 17 targets which were determined for 5 strategic goals.

The Document covers two main parts, i.e. General Information and Performance Information, each of which is detailed below.

General Information

The Performance Document states the powers, duties and responsibilities of TURKPATENT with an organizational chart (as below) and provides actual details regarding the departmental structure, status of human and physical resources and inventory of TURKPATENT .

Organizational Chart of TURKPATENT

The Document reports some important tasks and projects completed in 2017 and projects a series of new tasks and goals in 2018, several of which are summarized below:

• Technology Infrastructure of the Office has been strengthened in 2017 for shortening the proceedings and decreasing the errors.
• Integration of the archive of the Office into Electronic Document, Process and Archive Management has continued during 2017 and the completion of the integration is planned in December 2018.
• Telephone system has been modernized by new technology IP system.
• The use of Electronic Document Archive Management System (EBAYS) used for internal and external correspondences will be continued in 2018.
• A new generation data storage unit will be purchased in 2018.
• Critical data is planned to be kept in a separate data center to avoid any loss of data due to possible natural disasters.
• Certificate of Management System for Information Security (TS ISO 27001) is aimed to be obtained in 2018.
• The Office has 470 employees according to data in September 2017.
• It is planned to employ new patent examiners to increase capacity of the Office for international search and examinations*, new examiners for geographical indications to work in the newly established Division of Geographical Indications, one Legal Consultant for developing laws and regulations, and one lawyer to represent the Office before the Courts during 2018.

Performance Information

The part of Performance Information of the Document refers to the following Fundamental Policies and Priorities for performing the goals and objectives of TURKPATENT in 2018.

• Turkey's 10th Development Plan (2014-2018), which mainly aims to increase human and institutional capacity of the public sector to protect intellectual property rights, raise service capacity of the technology transfer offices and innovation centers, commercialize intellectual property rights, and raise public awareness on intellectual property right by publicity.
• Program of 65th Government of Turkey, which projects establishment of Patent Bourse.
• National Intellectual Property Rights Strategy Paper and Action Plan (2015-2018) of Turkey, which basically aims law and enforcement improvement and effective inspection and protection of intellectual rights, commercialization of intellectual property rights, raising public awareness on intellectual property rights.
• Geographical Indications Strategy Paper and Action Plan (2015-2018) of Turkey, which mainly aims to develop the laws and regulations for GIs, increase the institutional capacity of the public establishments dealing with the GIs, create an effective inspection system for GIs, develop marketing strategies to increase the added values of the GIs.

Subsequently, the Document quotes the mission and vision statements of TURKPATENT :

Mission

Contributing to the effective protection and commercialization of industrial property rights and serving to the economic and technological development of our country by increasing the awareness of industrial property in all layers of the society and being active in international platforms in the field of industrial property.

Vision

Being an Office contributing to the improvement of Turkey's intellectual capital and innovation capacity and giving direction to national and international policy in industrial property

Performance Document states the following strategic objectives of TURKPATENT :

• Performing the services in respect of the industrial property rights in a qualified, effective and rapid manner.
• Increasing the industrial property awareness in all layers of the society.
• Converting industrial property into economic benefit.
• Being active in the international arena and being guide to the country in the industrial property issues.
• Consolidating the institutional capacity.

Finally, the Document comprehensively states the performance goals and objectives for 2018. Each performance goal has its own performance indicators and performance activities for its realization. The primary performance goals of TURKPATENT are being provided below:

• Measures will be taken to increase customer satisfaction in the services provided by the Office.
• The alignment between the Office's decisions and the judicial decisions will be enhanced.
• All services will be provided electronically.
• It will be contributed to the improvement of the attorney system.
• The level of awareness of patents, trademarks, designs, geographical indications and traditional product names will be raised in the public.
• Scientific studies in the field of industrial property will be supported.
• It will be contributed to the commercialization of inventions.
• Situational analysis regarding the impact of branding on development will be made and branding awareness will be increased and thus its the impact on development will be encouraged.
• It will be contributed to increasing the effect of geographical indications and development of traditional products.
• It will be contributed to the creation of original designs.
• The capacity to establish international patent search and examination reports will be increased.
• It will be contributed to increasing the effectiveness of platforms bringing together industrial property stakeholders.
• International events will be followed to increase the efficiency of the country in intellectual property matters.
• The human resources infrastructure of the Office will be strengthened.
• The technological infrastructure of the Office will be strengthened.
• The physical infrastructure will be strengthened to increase institutional capacity.
• A planned work culture will be developed within the Office.

To put it in a nutshell, TURKPATENT is aiming to use the electronic means, promote the knowledge and capacity of human resources and improve infrastructure for high quality and fast services in 2018 and the following years in view of the newly released Strategy Document (2018-2022) covering the activities and actions which are planned between 2018 and 2022.

The Performance Document can be reached by clicking here.

*Turkish Patent and Trademark Office has become International Search and Examination Authority in 2016.

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Vocational qualification exams for becoming Turkish patent and trademark attorney to be held on January 21, 2018.

The candidates who passed the general qualification exams for becoming Turkish patent attorney and trademark attorney held on November 11, 2017 will take their vocational qualification exams on January 21, 2018.

Vocational qualification exam for becoming Turkish patent attorney will cover open-ended questions regarding national and international laws and practices of patents, utility models, integrated circuit topographies, designs and geographical indications.

Vocational qualification exam for becoming Turkish trademark attorney will cover open-ended questions regarding national and international laws and practices of trademarks, integrated circuit topographies, designs and geographical indications.

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Payment periods for renewal fees of Turkish trademarks and designs will change from January 10, 2018

New Industrial Property Code came into force last year on January 10, 2017 in Turkey.

The Code prescribes the followings for the trademark and designs renewal fee due dates:

Renewal fees for trademarks shall be due on the anniversary day of the filing date every ten years.
Renewal fees for designs shall be due on the anniversary day of the filing date every five years.
New Industrial Property Code prescribed a period of transition, which keeps the provisions of Old Decree Laws applicable regarding the due dates throughout twelve months from the date of entry into force of New Industrial Property Code, which means between January 10, 2017 and January 10, 2018.

The period of transition will end on January 10, 2018 and the renewal fees due for trademarks and designs on and after that date should be paid on the anniversary day of the filing date of trademarks and designs.

According to Old Trademark and Design Decree Laws (Decree Law No. 554 and Decree Law No. 555 ), it was possible to pay the renewal fees for trademarks and designs on the last day of the month covering the anniversary day of the filing date.

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New practice for due dates for renewal fees of Turkish trademarks and designs to be applied as from January 10, 2018

Turkey introduced its New Industrial Property Code of Laws for patents, trademarks, designs, geographical indications last year on January 10, 2017.

According to the New Code, renewal fees for trademarks (every 10 years) and designs (every 5 years but upto 25 years at most) will become due for payment on the anniversary day of the filing date. Contrary to the New Code, Old Trademark and Design Decree Laws (Decree Law No. 554 and 556 respectively) was allowing the renewal fees for trademarks and designs to be paid on the last day of the month containing the anniversary day of the filing date.

New Industrial Property Code coming into force on January 10, 2017 has prescribed a transitional period, which keeps the practice of earlier Trademark and Design Decree Laws applicable in respect of the due dates for trademarks and designs throughout 12 months as from the coming into force of the New Code, which covers the periods between January 10, 2017 and January 10, 2018.

The transitional period will come to end as from January 10, 2018 and from that date on, the renewal fees due for trademarks and designs should be paid on the anniversary day of the filing date but not on the last day of the month containing the anniversary date.

This change requires attention for the rights holders and trademark and design attorneys and agents in their upcoming handling renewal fees in Turkey to avoid any surcharges of relatively high amounts or loss of rights.

Source: http://www.turkrenewals.com/news.html

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