Turkey jurisdiction report: Mediation in opposition cases

In mediation during opposition cases the articles of the Code on Mediation in Civil Disputes no. 6325 are applied (our article published in the March/April issue of WIPR gives general information and mediation principles).

The mediation type which is practised for opposition cases is ‘discretionary’, ie, TurkPatent shall not force parties to apply to mediation and also parties are free to initiate, continue, or terminate it.

This process works as follows: TurkPatent’s examiner issues its decision about an opposition filed against an application. If the party who is not happy with this decision appeals it, the file is conveyed to TurkPatent’s Appeal Board.

The Appeal Board, before examining the file, notifies the other party of the appeal by granting this party one month to respond to this appeal. The Appeal Board, by the same notification, also invites the parties to mediation by granting them again one month to respond to this invitation.