Patents & Utility Models
Decree-Law No. 551 provides two systems for the grant of patents: grant without examination and grant with examination. So that the examination of the patentability requirements can be carried out, the applicant must notify the Office within three months of the date on which the search report is served on it that it chooses the system of grant with examination. If this notification is not made within that period, the applicant is deemed to have chosen the system of grant without examination. Under the system without examination, the patent is granted without examination once the period set for the applicant to submit its counter-arguments on the search report has expired after publication of the search report, without taking into account any third-party observations on the search report. Under the system with examination, after the search report the invention is further examined for novelty, for whether it goes beyond the state of the art and for industrial applicability, and a patent is granted only to inventions that meet these criteria. After publication of the search report and within six months of the publication date, the applicant requests the Office to carry out the examination for the grant of a patent with examination. For this examination to be carried out, the six-month opposition period granted to third parties must have expired and the prescribed examination fee must have been paid. The examination fee may be paid at any time within the period mentioned above. If no request for examination is made or the fee is not paid within this period, the application is processed under the system without examination. For a patent granted without examination, a switch to the system with examination is possible if the applicant or a third party files a request for examination within 7 years of the grant of the patent. The examination fee is paid by the party making the request. No request for examination can be filed after the seven-year period has expired. Patentability examinations can be carried out by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TÜRKPATENT) as well as by the Swedish, Danish, Russian and Austrian patent offices. If, during the examination of a patent application, the subject matter of the invention for which a patent is sought is changed in part or in full so as to extend beyond the scope of the original application, the filing date becomes the date on which the amendment was filed.