TURKPATENT amended its procedure for change of name, address and company type

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) has made some procedural changes for recording changes of names, kinds and addresses of applicants and right holders as well as assigning customer numbers.

In the new procedure, TURKPATENT will no longer request the addresses of local persons (natural or legal) when filing applications as they will be automatically fetched from the Central Registry Number System (MERSİS), Turkish registry system of legal entities. Accordingly, the practice for change of address for local persons has been terminated.

In addition, TURKPATENT will no longer request any evidence for changing the names of the local persons as it will use the MERSIS database to confirm the change of name. In this regard, a simple request will be sufficient to record change of name for local persons. However, it will be necessary to submit evidence for recording change of names and company types of foreign entities.

Meanwehile, TURKPATENT will no longer assign a customer number for local natural or legal persons, instead using the Turkish Identification Number (T.C. Kimlik Numarası) for local natural persons and the tax number for local legal entities to identify them. On the other hand, TURKPATENT will continue assigning a number for foreign natural and legal persons, which is hereafter named "Person Number" (earlier called "Customer Number").

These procedural changes are especially important for local persons’ business, because they will any longer need to submit less information for IP filings and no documents for recording any changes. These changes will also allow TURKPATENT to keep consistent and up-to-date records regarding the right holders and fast process any changes when requested