The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office ("TPTO") has announced proposed amendments to Industrial Property Law Number 6769 ("IP Law") and sent these to related ministries and organizations to receive their opinions and comments. The proposed amendments relate to geographical indications and patents.
The proposed changes can be summarized as follows:
- The IP Law requires an inspection report to be submitted annually to the TPTO for geographical indications and traditional specialties. The TPTO will publish the registration in the Geographical Indications and Traditional Specialties Bulletin for the applicant to be changed if the inspection is not sufficient, the report is not submitted, or deficiencies are not remedied. The registration will be cancelled if nobody applies to become the new owner within three months. The proposed amendments introduce a three-month period before the application is published, allowing the applicant to establish a new inspection authority.
- Currently, any changes which exceed the scope of a patent application are excluded from consideration during the search report process. The process can result in a patent application being refused, or the applicant making a new application. The proposed amendments state that in such situations, the patent's application date will be updated and the date of the change will be the application date, to prevent possible negative outcomes.
- All references in legislation to the Decree Law on Protection of Patent Rights Numbered 551 will be deemed to refer to the IP Law, since the previous legislation has been cancelled.
Please see this link for full text of the proposed amendments (only available in Turkish).
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