Trademarks, patents and industrial designs, bestow the proprietors of these registrations a genuine right. The IP rights will have a meaning if they have the opportunity of enforcement. A non-enforced right does not have an importance. A right will have a meaning in condition that it is recognized by the legal system. The law exists in order to protect a right.

A non-protected right will remain meaningless on the papers. Non-enforcement of a right will weaken the power thereof. The authorities who will conduct the enforcement procedure are the courts and other judicial authorities.  Unfortunately the state organs do not ipso facto intervene into infringement of a protected right. Right owners mostly err on the characteristics of intervention of the competent authorities. The lapse point of the proprietors is that they consider the state to be active in all aspects of protection as well as coming into action without a demand or complaint. As a matter of fact, even the criminal procedure depends on action of the proprietor. The state authorities will never act without a demand.

For example a fake product which is being sold in a market, cannot be confiscated by a passer-by state officer if there is no complaint or demand of the proprietor.  The whole initiation of the rights is left to the whole discretion of the proprietor of the right. No one  can force a right owner to sue a third party or blame the owner for not acting so.

The IP rights have a broad scope of protection in Turkey. A right owner can get benefit from these rights with the help of law and legal system. These rights grant the owner literally an exclusive MONOPOLY right. Our legal department offers a service for protection of all IP rights including litigation.

Right Conferredto Trademark

Trademarks have been used for as long as products have been offered for sale. They can take on many names, forms, shapes, and colors and can identify a soft drink, a shoe, a sandwich, a car — the possibilities are endless. The majority of successful consumer products are identified throughout the world by their trademarks. When another person or company uses the same or very similar identifying characteristics to market or sell their product, this is called trademark infringement, a violation covered by trademark infringement law.

Descriptive devices created to identify products and set them apart from similar ones are protected by trademark infringement law. Once a trademark is registered, no one else can legally use it. Sometimes infringement is overt, other times it is vague, and in some cases, it is claimed to have been inadvertently and innocently used without intended malice. Trademark law varies from country to country; although there are several international treaties and registration systems, there is no way to register a trademark that will be automatically accepted in every country.

The proprietor of a trademark shall be entitled to prevent all third parties not having his consent from using the trademark as described herewith:

a) use of any sign which is identical with the registered trademark in relation to goods and services which are identical with those for which the trademark is registered,
b) use of any sign where, because of its identity with or similarity to the registered trademark and identity or similarity of the goods and services covered by the registered trademark and sign, there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public including likelihood of association between the sign and the trademark,
c) use of any sign which is identical with or similar to the registered trademark in relation to goods or services which are not similar to those for which the trademark is registered, where the use of that sign without due cause takes unfair advantage of or is detrimental to the distinctive character or the repute of the registered trademark.

The following may be prohibited under the first paragraph,

a) affixing the design to the goods or to the packaging thereof,
b) offering the goods, putting them on the market or stocking them for these purposes under that sign, or offering or supplying services thereunder,
c) importing or exporting the goods under that sign,
d) using the sign on business papers and in advertising.

The rights conferred by a registered trademark shall prevail against third parties from the date of publication of the registration of the trademark. Compensation may be claimed in respect of matters arising after the date of publication of a trademark application. However, the rights arising from the publication of an application shall be considered within the rights conferred by the publication of the registration of a trademark. The Court may not decide upon the merits of the case until the registration has been published.

Trademark protection can be maintained by a lawsuit (including compensation of damages) and Criminal suits Trademark infringement is a tort and at the same time a crime which requires a penalty of imprisonment for 2 years.

Rights Conferred to Design

The holder of the design right has exclusive rights with respect to the use of the design. Third parties, cannot - produce, put on the market, sell, offer, import, put to commercial use or keep in stock for these purposes - the product in which such a design is incorporated or to which it is applied without the consent of the right holder.
The rights conferred by a registered design shall prevail against third parties from the date of application/publication of the design. . Compensation may be claimed in respect of matters arising after the date of publication of a design application. The Court may not decide upon the merits of the case until the registration has been published.

Industrial design protection can be maintained by a lawsuit (including compensation of damages) and Criminal suits design infringement is a tort and at the same time a crime which requires a penalty of imprisonment for 2 years.

Rights Conferred to Patents

Patent law is a specific area of law that encompasses the legal regulation, jurisprudence, and enforcement of specific intellectual property rights known as patent rights. A patent is a government issued right granted to individuals or groups that protects their original inventions from being made, used, or sold by others without their permission for a set period of time. While patents can be legally obtained without the use of an attorney, an attorney who specializes in patent law can help ensure that their client’s patent is enforceable by law. Because patent law pertains to intellectual property, which is like any other property in that it can be legally sold, exchanged, traded, or abandoned, the finer points of patent law are frequently amended as technology changes. This is another reason why an attorney specializing in patent law is of significant use to those seeking a patent.

Under Turkey patent law, three criteria must be applicable to the invention before a patent is granted. The invention must be new, useful, and not obvious to those with ordinary skills in any area related to the invention. These particular requirements are, from time to time, subjective. New obviously means that the invention was not previously in existence. As it pertains to patent law, useful is defined as providing a benefit meant for a legitimate purpose or use. The one area of patent law that is particularly subjective is defining whether an invention is obvious or not.