Didim Today

Turkish intellectual property law, Sometimes lawyers feel that all those violations experienced by their clients will never touch them. This is certainly not the case. It happens to us, too. Just recently, I was wandering in a bookshop, and I checked the legal books section, and what did I find but a legal guidebook for foreigners living in Turkey that had just been released.

It is great that someone took on this project, but while turning the pages I was very surprised to see that the wording of the matters handled in the book was very similar to that of my humble articles. It is frustrating to see that someone made slight changes to the articles and used them in a book. What a brilliant idea!

What should I do about it? Sue the author of the publication for infringement? I don’t know how to go about this since these works are probably no more my own but rather belong to Today’s Zaman. My aim in writing these articles is to help expats find their way through Turkey’s legal regulations. Should I care about how they reach the information I provide here?

I haven’t decided what to do, but this situation gave me the idea to write a couple of articles about intellectual property (IP) rights protection in Turkey. Today, I would like to write about IP rights, how they are protected and what happens in the case of infringement.

Enforcement of IP rights in Turkey

Turkey has enacted several pieces of legislation regarding intellectual property rights. With this list of legislation enacted since 1994, you can see the achievements protecting IP rights in Turkey:

• Decree-Law 544/1994 on the establishment and function of the Turkish Patent Institute;

• Decree-Law 551/1995 on patent rights;

• Decree-Law 556/1995 on trademark rights;

• Decree-Law 554/1995 on industrial designs;

• Decree-Law 555/1995 on geographical indicators (signs);

• Decree-Law 4128/2004 on the Amending Law on Patents, Designs, Geographical Indicators and Trademarks; and

• Decree-Law 5147/2004 on protection of integrated circuits.

Fines and penalties

Law No. 4128 was enacted in June 2004 and brought new regulations thereof; the law provides heavy penalties for infringement. For instance, violators shall be subject to an imprisonment of up to three years and/or a fine of TL 46,000 (approximately 27,000 euros). In addition, the violator’s business shall be subject to closing for a period of up to one year.

Decree-Law 556/1995, which came into force in 1995, governs trademarks. Some amendments were made to Decree-Law 556/1995 through a new decree-law, which came into force on April 8, 2006:

• Natural persons can also file trademark applications.

• In the earlier registration system, it used to be possible to file a trademark application, up to three classes included, for the same application fee. This system is no longer available, and now applicants are required to pay a single fee for each filing per class.

• Applicants shall pay only a single fee to make changes to the name, address or assignment of all its trademarks. In the earlier system, there used to be far more detailed information required and expense involved.

• In the earlier system, the Patent Institute used to require that applicants submit a relevant form from the Trade Registry Directorate. This is no longer required, and filings can be made via a power of attorney.

Berk Cektir http://www.berkcektir.av.tr/ The information provided here is intended to give basic legal information. You should get legal assistance from a licensed attorney at law while conducting legal transactions and not just rely on the information in this corner. http://www.todayszaman.com/ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it