TURKPATENT released Turkish industrial property statistics of 2021

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) has released statistics of 2021. A total number of 248,597 domestic industrial property applications were filed in 2021, including 8,439 patent applications, 4,418 utility model applications, 176,493 trademark applications and 59,247 design applications.

Compared to the previous year 2020, it has been observed that there was an increase of 3 percent in domestic patent applications, 24 percent in domestic utility model applications, 13 percent in domestic trademark applications and 41 percent in domestic design applications.

When domestic and foreign applications are combined, while the total number of domestic and foreign filings increased by 24 percent for utility models, 12 percent for trademarks and 39 percent for designs, the number of patents decreased.

19 universities took place among the first 50 entities to apply for domestic patents in 2021. 11% of domestic patent applications were filed by universities.

The sectors with the highest number of domestic patent applications in 2021 were respectively followings:

• Medical and surgical equipment and orthopedic vehicles (609 patent applications)
• Office machinery and computers' (534 patent applications)
• Household appliances (523 patent applications)
• Motor land vehicles trailer and semi-trailer (483 patent applications)
• Pharmaceutical products, medicinal chemicals and botanical products (469 patent applications).

352 geographical indications were registered in 2021. Thus, the total number of registered geographical indications increased to 990 in Turkey. The provinces with the highest number of geographical indication applications in 2021 were Erzurum with 61 applications, Van with 34 applications and Gaziantep with 28 applications. Turkey has 7 geographical indications registered with the European Union. These are "Antep baklavası (Antep baklava)", "Aydın inciri (Aydın fig)", "Aydın kestanesi (Aydın chestnut)", "Bayramiç Beyazı", "Malatya kayısısı (Malatya apricot)", "Milas zeytinyağı (Milas olive oil)" and "Taşköprü sarımsağı (Taşköprü garlic)".

Turkey ranked 14th in the world in patent applications, 7th in trademark applications, 4th in design applications, and 9th in general industrial property filings at the national level.

Turkey has maintained its position as the country with the highest number of trademark applications in Europe since 2011. On the other hand, TURKPATENT became among the top 10 institutions that issued the most international search reports (ISR) for PCT applications last year.

TURKPATENT's statistics can be found here.

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Turkish Plant Variety Office announced new schedule of fees for 2022

Turkish Plant Variety Office announced its new schedule of fees for registering the new plant varieties in Turkey.

The official fees were increased by 25% The amount of the frequently paid fees are as follows: 

•  Official fee for filing a plant variety application: 1780 TRY
• Official fee for novelty examination: 1638 TRY
• Official fee for variety denomination: 205 TRY
• Official fee claiming priority: 3207 TRY
• Official fee for examination (based on foreign DUS test): 1910 TRY

The list of the official fees can be found here.

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Turkish PTO announced new official fees effective January 01, 2022

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) announced new official fees for patents, utility models, trademarks and designs effective January 01, 2022.

The official fees for patents, utility models, trademarks and designs have been increased at a rate of average 36%.

Exceptionally, the official fees related to the provisional protection of European patent applications (publishing the Turkish translation of the claims), validation of European patents and PCT national phase entries in Turkey have been substantially increased at an average rate of 50% as follows:

• Official filing fee for the provisional protection of the European patent applications in Turkey increased to 2.895 TRY from 1.930 TRY,
• Official filing fee for the European patent validations in Turkey increased to 4.640 TRY from 3.095 TRY,
• Official filing fee for the PCT national phase entries in Turkey increased to 3.020 TRY from 2.015 TRY.

TURKPATENT has, for the first time, differentiated the national phase entry fees according to the request of protection type, i.e. national phase entry as a patent application or utility model application. According to the new practice, the PCT national phase entry fee as a utility model application in Turkey amounts to 2.250 TRY, while the PCT national phase entry fee as a patent application in Turkey amounts to 3.020 TRY.

The other frequently paid fees have become as follows:

• Official filing fee for a patent application: 75 TRY.
• Official filing fee for a utility model application: 75 TRY.
• Official filing fee for a trademark application: 380 TRY for one class and 380 TRY for each additional class.
• Official filing fee for a design application: 270 TRY for one design and 120 TRY for each additional design.

The high fee increases have been due to the significant value loss of Turkish lira against major foreign currencies and high inflation during 2021. While the fee increase rates appear high, the official fees have remained lower in terms of major foreign currencies compared to the earlier year.

The official fees in the Turkish jurisdiction are revised and announced at the beginning of every year and come into force as from January 01 of each year. The schedule of fees announced for 2022 can be found on this link.

TURKPATENT accepts all the applications and requests, and the payments thereof via its electronic filing system (EPATS).

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TURKPATENT updated the trademark examination guideline

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) has updated its trademark examination guideline. 

TURKPATENT has updated the guideline regarding the confusingly similarities of the trademarks, one of the relative refusal grounds in the opposition-based examinations. The updated sections cover the basic approaches of handling the examinations of goods and services and the signs in the similarity analysis during the opposition proceedings.

The update also provides case-by-case comparative analysis in respect of different instances in view of the decisions of the Turkish IP courts as well as the decisions of the EUIPO and the Court of Justice of the EU.

The guideline is available on this link.

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TURKPATENT takes measures to protect the personal data

Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) has taken some measures to protect the personal data under the Law No. 6608 for the protection of the personal data.

The measures cover important restrictions for preventing the revelation of personal data on online patent, trademark and design search and registry tools and in the official gazettes for patents, trademarks, and designs.

With the new measures being introduced, the below-listed personal data will not be disclosed in the online search tools and the official gazettes:

• addresses of inventors or designers,
• addresses of applicants and rights owners being natural persons,
• email addresses of inventors or designers,
• phone numbers of inventors or designers

The measures also cover the personal data of Turkish patent and trademark agents being natural person. Turkish patent and trademark agents will have the freedom of choice which of their personal data can be displayed or listed in the online search and registry tools, and the list of the patent and trademark agents provided by TURKPATENT.

While the personal data is no longer provided on the online search and registry tools and the official gazettes, the third parties will be able to obtain the contact details of the applicants/rights owners by filing a special request at TURKPATENT where such data is necessary for the purposes of court actions, mediation or license etc. In this case, the third parties demanding the contact details will have to electronically sign a statement of liability for use of the related data and such data will be sent by e-mail upon their signing such statement.

The data of the legal entities will remain available to the public as usual after their patent, trademark or design applications being published.

TURKPATENT has published a clarification text for the new practice.

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