IP Protection in Turkey: Patents, Designs & Trade Secrets

Intellectual property protection in Turkey matters to foreign investors and multinational groups that bring technology, products or creative content into the Turkish market. Patents, utility models and designs are governed by the Industrial Property Code No. 6769 (SMK), published in the Official Gazette on 10 January 2017, most of whose provisions took effect on publication. Copyright sits in a separate statute, the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works No. 5846 (FSEK). Several local rules on representation, unregistered designs, employee inventions and the duty to use a patent are easy to miss from abroad.

The practical questions are whether each right is registered where it needs to be, owned by the right entity and enforceable in a Turkish court. Through our corporate and commercial law practice, we review these questions for foreign clients. This guide covers patents, utility models, designs, copyright and trade secrets; brand filing has its own trademark registration guide.

Key Takeaways

• Mandatory local representation: Anyone domiciled abroad acts before TURKPATENT only through a registered patent or trademark attorney (SMK Article 160(3)).

• Terms of protection: Patents run 20 years and utility models 10 years from filing, with no extension (Article 101); registered designs up to 25 years (Article 69); copyright for the author's life plus 70 years (FSEK Article 27).

• European patents: A Turkish translation of the whole specification is due within three months of the grant announcement, extendable by three months against a fee.

• Unregistered designs: Only designs first made public in Turkey get three years' protection without registration (SMK Articles 55(4) and 69(2)).

• Criminal routes differ by right: Within the SMK, prison terms apply only to trademark infringement (Article 30); copyright infringement (FSEK Article 71) and disclosure of trade secrets (TCK Article 239) carry their own penalties.

Patent Protection Framework in Turkey

The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TURKPATENT) administers patents under the SMK. Foreign applicants can file a national application, enter the Turkish national phase of a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application within thirty months of the priority date, with three more months available against an extra fee (Implementing Regulation, Article 73), or validate a European patent. A first filing in a Paris Convention or WTO country gives a twelve-month priority right for Turkey (SMK Article 93(1)).

Invention Patents vs. Utility Models

A patent requires novelty, an inventive step and industrial applicability (Article 82(1)); novelty is judged against anything made available to the public anywhere in the world before the filing date (Article 83). A utility model needs only novelty and industrial applicability (Article 142(1)) and is decided on a search report rather than a full examination (Article 143), but it is not available for chemical, pharmaceutical, biotechnological or process inventions (Article 142(3)). Patents last twenty years and utility models ten years from filing, and the Code states that these terms cannot be extended (Article 101(1)). Computer programs as such fall outside patentability (Article 82(2)); software is protected by copyright instead.

Filing Stages and Statutory Deadlines

The Code sets no overall duration for a patent application, but it fixes each stage. The application is published once eighteen months have passed from the filing or priority date, unless earlier publication is requested (Article 97(1)). The examination request is due within three months of notification of the search report, or the application is deemed withdrawn (Article 98(1)). TURKPATENT may raise objections no more than three times, each answerable within three months (Article 98(3)–(4)), and third parties may oppose a grant within six months of its publication (Article 99(1)). The inventor's own disclosure in the twelve months before filing does not prevent a patent or utility model (Article 84(1)).

European Patent Validation

Turkey is a party to the European Patent Convention (SMK Article 83(3)(b)). Under TURKPATENT's regulation implementing the Convention, the holder must file a Turkish translation of the European patent specification, covering the description, claims and any drawings, and pay the publication fee within three months of the grant announcement; a further three months can be requested within that period against an extra fee. If this is not done, the European patent is deemed void in Turkey from the outset (Article 12). Otherwise it is treated as a national patent granted in Turkey from the date of the grant announcement (Article 11).

Use It or Risk a Compulsory Licence

The patent owner must use the patented invention (SMK Article 130(1)). Once three years have passed from publication of the grant, or four years from filing, whichever ends later, any interested person may seek a compulsory licence because the invention is not used or its use does not meet national market demand; the same applies after an unjustified interruption of more than three years (Article 130(2)). If the owner has not met this duty, lost profits in an infringement case are calculated on a licence-fee basis (Article 151(5)).

Industrial Design Registration and Protection

A design is the appearance of the whole or a part of a product, or of its ornamentation, arising from features such as line, shape, form, colour, material or surface texture; computer programs are not products for this purpose (SMK Article 55(1)–(2)). It must be new and have individual character (Article 56(1)). Registration protects a design for five years from filing, renewable in five-year periods up to twenty-five years (Article 69(1)). TURKPATENT refuses a design it finds is not new (Article 64(6)(d)), third parties may oppose within three months of publication (Article 67(2)), and the applicant may ask on filing to defer publication for thirty months, keeping a launch confidential (Article 66(1)).

Unregistered protection lasts three years, but only for a design first made public in Turkey (Articles 55(4) and 69(2)), and it only stops copying (Article 59(2)). A product launched first at a foreign trade fair should therefore be registered here. The designer's own disclosure in the twelve months before filing does not destroy novelty or individual character (Article 57(2)), and a first filing abroad gives six months' priority (Article 62(1)).

Copyright Under Law No. 5846: Software and Ownership

Under the FSEK, a work is an intellectual or artistic product that bears its author's characteristics and falls within science and literature, music, fine arts or cinema (Article 1/B). Computer programs in any form are works of science and literature, although the ideas and principles underlying a program are not (Article 2). Authors may register works under Article 13, but the Law says registration is made without the aim of creating rights; protection does not depend on it. Protection lasts for the author's life plus seventy years, or seventy years from publication where the first author is a legal person (Article 27).

Two rules matter for foreign companies. Rights in works that employees create in the course of their work are exercised by the employer unless a special contract or the nature of the work indicates otherwise (Article 18(2)). The rule names civil servants, employees and workers, so for freelancers use a written assignment. Contracts on economic rights must be in writing and list each right separately (Article 52), and each economic right is independent of the others (Article 20). A development agreement should therefore name adaptation, reproduction and distribution (Articles 21–23) rather than rely on a general "all IP belongs to the client" clause.

Employee Inventions and Trade Secrets

A service invention is one an employee makes during employment, either as part of the job or largely based on the business's experience and work (SMK Article 113(1)). The employee must report it in writing without delay (Article 114(1)). The employer has four months from receiving the report to claim full or partial rights in writing, failing which the invention becomes free (Article 115(1)); after a full claim the employee may demand reasonable remuneration (Article 115(6)). Arrangements departing from these rules to the employee's detriment are not permitted, and freedom of contract on a service invention begins only once the patent application is filed (Article 117(1)). A general clause in the employment contract does not replace the report-and-claim step.

There is no separate trade-secrets statute and no registration. Unlawfully disclosing or exploiting production and trade secrets is unfair competition (TTK Article 55(1)(d)) and, when intentional, is punishable on complaint by up to two years' imprisonment or a judicial fine (TTK Article 62(1)). Disclosing trade secrets learned through one's position or profession carries, on complaint, one to three years' imprisonment and a judicial fine (TCK Article 239(1)); the penalty rises by one third, and no complaint is needed, if the secret goes to a foreigner not resident in Turkey (Article 239(3)). Employees must keep production and trade secrets confidential during employment and afterwards to the extent the employer's legitimate interest requires (TBK Article 396). Our note on non-compete clauses for employees covers post-employment restrictions.

IP Rights Compared: Patents, Designs, Copyright and Trade Secrets

Enforcement: Courts, Remedies, Customs and Criminal Routes

SMK disputes go to the specialised intellectual and industrial property civil and criminal courts, or to designated general courts where none has been set up (Article 156(1)); actions against TURKPATENT decisions go to the Ankara Intellectual and Industrial Property Civil Court (Article 156(2)). If the claimant has no domicile in Turkey, the Code designates the court at the place of business of its registered attorney (Article 156(4)). For procedure generally, see our guide to commercial litigation in Turkey.

The right holder may seek a declaration of infringement, prevention and cessation of infringing acts, material and moral damages, seizure of infringing goods and publication of the judgment (Article 149(1)). Lost profits are calculated, at the holder's choice, on its likely income without the infringer's competition, the infringer's net profit or a notional licence fee (Article 151(2)), and claims follow the limitation rules of the Turkish Code of Obligations (Article 157). An interim injunction requires proof that infringing use is taking place in Turkey, or that serious and effective preparations for it are being made, and can include seizure in customs areas and free zones (Article 159).

At the border, customs suspends clearance or detains goods at the right holder's request, and the holder then has ten working days from being notified, or three for perishable goods, to obtain an interim injunction (Customs Law No. 4458, Article 57). Copyright infringement is punishable by one to five years' imprisonment or a judicial fine, prosecuted on complaint (FSEK Articles 71 and 75), and the holder may claim up to three times the fee that could have been asked under a contract (Article 68).

Common questions about this topic

Can foreign companies register patents in Turkey without a local entity?

Yes. No Turkish subsidiary or branch is needed. An applicant domiciled abroad must act through a patent or trademark attorney registered with TURKPATENT, or its filings are deemed not to have been made (SMK Article 160(3)); for patents, that means a registered patent attorney.

How long does patent registration take in Turkey?

The Code fixes stage deadlines rather than a total time: publication after eighteen months from filing or priority, an examination request within three months of the search report, up to three office objections with three months to answer each, and a six-month opposition period after grant (Articles 97–99). Missing a stage deadline can mean the application is deemed withdrawn.

How are TURKPATENT official fees set?

TURKPATENT publishes a fee tariff (Implementing Regulation, Article 3) and the amounts change, so check the tariff in force on the day you pay. Patent annual fees are due from the end of the second year after filing; a missed fee can be paid with a surcharge within six months, and a lapsed patent can be revived by paying a restoration fee within two months of the lapse notice (SMK Article 101).

Does Turkey protect trade secrets under a specific statute?

There is no separate statute. Protection comes from the unfair competition rules of the Turkish Commercial Code (TTK Articles 55(1)(d) and 62), the Penal Code offence of disclosing trade secrets (TCK Article 239) and the employee's statutory duty of confidentiality (TBK Article 396).

Can I enforce a European Patent (EP) in Turkey?

Yes, once it has taken effect. The holder must file a Turkish translation of the full specification (description, claims and any drawings) and pay the publication fee within three months of the grant announcement, or within the three-month extension. Otherwise the patent is void in Turkey from the outset; once in effect, it is enforced as a Turkish national patent.

What is the duration of IP protection in Turkey?

Patents: 20 years; utility models: 10 years, both from filing and not extendable (SMK Article 101). Registered designs: up to 25 years in five-year terms; unregistered designs: three years (Article 69). Trademarks: ten years, renewable (Article 23). Copyright: the author's life plus 70 years (FSEK Article 27). Trade secrets have no statutory term and depend on staying confidential.

This guide is general information on Turkish law, not legal advice on your own matter. Rules and practice change; check the position before you act.