INFORMATION ABOUT PATENT PROCESS

Patent is an exclusive right providing a right to prohibit use of your invention by others commercially.

Commercial use means for example production, selling, using or importing of a product. For using a patented invention, you may sell (assign) your patent or give a license.

What kind of inventions can be patented? (Patentability Criteria) 

In order that an invention can be patented, it is required to;

• be new,

• have an inventive step, 

• be industrial applicable.

Novelty

In order that your invention is new, your patent application is required not to be disclosed to the public orally and in written before the date of patent application. The invention should not be in the state of the art, it should not be included in known technology. 

The invention is required not to be disclosed to public in order not to be included in the prior art before filing application even by inventor himself/herself.

Inventive Step

If the invention is effected with an activity that cannot be deduced obviously from the state of the art by a person skilled in the art, it will be accepted that state of the art is gone beyond.

Industrial applicability

Patentable inventions should be technologic and solve a technical problem. Subject matter of invention may be a new process, method, device, product or change/improvement brought to the present ones. As a result, only an idea or theory cannot be patented. A person skilled in the art should have enough information to be able to effect the invention with information written in description. An invention, i.e. technical solution, should be applicable and producible more than one time (repeatable).

Patent Application Outside of Turkey

A patent given in Turkey gives a right inventor to use invention commercially, however; it is valid only in Turkey. If you would like to protect your invention in other countries, you can apply directly to a patent office in other country or you can apply via a regional patent system such as European Patent. You can file a single international patent application within the scope of PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty), this allows that you claim protection from a number of countries at the same time for an invention. However, there is not a global patent and to apply for a single patent does not give you a right to use your invention commercially all over the world.

You do not have to apply in other countries on the same day with your national application day. However, you should apply by claiming priority within one year (12 months) from the filing day of your first application.

Priority right

You gain priority with the priority right. An inventor can claim priority right within 12 months following the patent application in any country based on his/her first application by applying for a patent for the same invention in another country.

 

Due to priority right, applications made by third parties for the same invention between the first application date and subsequent application date in other countries are deemed to be ineffective.

The subsequent application can be a national patent or utility model application, a European Patent application or an international PCT application.

International (PCT) Patent Applications

There is not a PCT patent, International Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an application system created in order to make application procedure easier. After international application phase is completed, national or regional applications are filed before respective country patent offices.

The system is based on Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) entered into force in 1978 and it is managed by World Intellectual Property Organization which is an organization of United Nations centered in Geneva. PCT has 153 member countries in 2020.

PCT system presents a lot of advantage for patent applicants:

• You can start an international patent procedure by filing a single application, it provides to protect your invention in all member countries i.e. more than a hundred countries.

• An international search report and a written opinion and upon demand an international preliminary report about patentability are received in PCT system. Then these documents are presented before national patent offices in entrances to national phase.

• You will have an opinion about patentability of your invention via contents of the reports provided by the system and you can decide which country you will enter into (country selection) with low cost risk.