Türk Patent functioning despite ‘ceasing to exist’
The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (Türk Patent) reportedly ceased to exist on Monday, according to some practitioners, but others said the recent developments had been misunderstood.
Decree Law (number 703)—which abolished Law number 5000, titled The Law on Establishment and Functions of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office—was published on Monday, July 9.
The previous law had provided for the establishment, purpose, and organisation of Türk Patent, Ozlem Futman, founding partner at Ofo Ventura, explained to WIPR. As such, “legally, Türk Patent ceased to exist” on Monday, she said.
Zeynep Balçık, attorney at law and trademark attorney at Suluk IP, said that despite this, “Türk Patent still works actively without any disruption”. She added that it will continue to do so until new regulations are accepted, and “we believe the office would maintain its existence by being a part/within the structure of another public body”.
However, Dilek Zeybel, trademark and patent attorney at Orbis Vista, said the decree has been “misinterpreted”. Under article 1 of the new decree, “no restructurings will take place unless announced to the contrary”, she explained.
Zeybel also noted that Turkey implemented a new IP law in January 2017 which “totally adapted” the country’s regulations to match European IP law.
On July 9, President Tayyip Erdogan was inaugurated after winning Turkey’s general election.
His presidency is accompanied by many new changes; for example, Erdogan will enjoy a new executive presidency, which replaces a parliamentary system where the prime minister and government held the most power, Reuters reported.
News outlet Ahval said the new decree contains amendments to laws and decrees with the aim of harmonising them with the Turkish constitution. It reported that, under the decree, administrative law judges in Turkey no longer need to have an undergraduate law degree.
Futman said that Erdogan’s first Presidential Decree (number 703), titled the Presidential Decree on Presidency Organisation, contains “no article in it regulating Türk Patent”.
However, she said that article 1 of the decree states that all the provisions relating to the establishment and organisation of public institutes which were abolished by Decree 703 will remain in force until a new Presidential decree is published.
Güldeniz Doğan Alkan, partner at Gün + Partners, explained that although the legal entity of Türk Patent no longer exists, it has been authorised to continue its activities under this article of the decree.
Although this is “complicated”, Futman said, she believes that Türk Patent will “continue to function as usual until decreed otherwise by the government”. She noted that on Tuesday, July 10, Türk Patent continued to accept applications “without hesitating”.
Doğan Alkan added: "Practically, nothing has changed."
"We have been attending hearings of actions filed against Türk Patent decisions yesterday and today", she said, "so we can say that Türk Patent is functioning as usual".
Erkan Sevinç, patent attorney at Istanbul Patent, said that despite the uncertainty, “it is highly likely that nothing will change”. He foresees that “no changes” in the functionality of Türk Patent will occur in practice, despite the organisational changes in the government.
Türk Patent received 42,345 trademark applications in the first four months of 2018, the majority of which came from Turkey (37,935). Far fewer patent applications were received during the first quarter of 2018 (5,118), and most of them came from abroad (3,291).
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