Intellectual Property Rights

Turkey complies with international treaties in the field of intellectual properties and has put into force its obligations in compliance with the European Union. By adapting the patent protection to the national legislation in pharmaceuticals the transformation period right allowed by the TRIPS Agreement connected with the World Trade Organization was waived and as of January 1, 1999 all accepted applications since 1995 were provided with patent protection.

The data protection liability generated by TRIPS entered our regulations in March of 1995. In this context all of the confidentiality of information submitted for the purpose of obtaining a license is protected.

In January of 2005, the 6 year data exclusivity application which will provide innovative companies that produce reference pharmaceuticals exemption in the market was entered into force in Turkey. Turkey has acted faster on this issue compared to some European Union countries. Some of the new members like Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland only started practicing the data exclusivity application a few years before the date that they became members.

With the changes made in the EU legislation data exclusivity has been raised to 8+2+1 totaling 11 years. With respect to the issue of extending the data exclusivity period which has been applied in our country for 6 years, it thought that based on our socio-economic conditions and pharmaceutical sector structure, this should only be applied with full membership in the EU and after the reciprocal recognition system is being operated by both sides and that it not be applied retrospectively.

Thus in the “Turkey National Program for the Adoption of the European Body of Knowledge” published on December 31, 2008, it is also expressed that the data exclusivity should not be extended to 8+2+1, 11 years before full membership in the EU.

Because the patent protection provided in the EU is not seen as sufficient, there is a Supplemental Protection Certificate (SPC) application. Members like Poland and Hungary which became members of the EU in 2004 and countries such as Croatia which have just recently completed the negotiation phase have correlated the Supplemental Protection Certificate with the full membership date. It is also found to be suitable in our country that the application be tied in with membership conditions and not be applies retrospectively.

Patent
The transformation period right allowed by the TRIPS Agreement connected with the World Trade Organization was waived and as of January 1, 1999 all accepted applications since 1995 were provided with patent protection.

The Industrial Property Law No. 6769 entered into force on 10 January 2017 following its publication in the Official Gazette.  Book 4 of the IP Law introduces relatively new provisions regarding the patent system in Turkey. With this law;

• Registration process for patents has been shortened and simplified
• The opposition period has been shortened.
• Re-establishment of rights procedure has been regulated.
• Patent system without examination has been removed.As a result of this regulation, the quality of patents will be increased.
• Post-registration opposition procedure has been regulated.
• The IP Law abolished criminal sanctions in the case of patent infringement.

Data Protection

The data protection liability generated by TRIPS entered our regulations in March of 1995. In this context all of the confidentiality of information submitted for the purpose of obtaining a license is protected.

Data Exclusivity

In January of 2005, the 6 year data exclusivity application which will provide innovative companies that produce reference pharmaceuticals exemption in the market was entered into force in Turkey