Starting with the application date, the time period of the patent protection is twenty years; the time period of the protection of the utility model is ten years. These time periods shall not be extended.

The annual fees that are needed for the protection of the patent application or the patent are paid during the patent protection, as of the date of the application, at the end of the second year, and in due time every year. The due date shall be the month and day corresponding to the application date.

The annual fees can be paid together with surcharges within six months following the due date, in case it cannot be paid in due time mentioned above.

In case the annual fees are not paid in due time as specified above, the patent right shall expire as of the due date of this fee; a notification will be made regarding expiration of the patent right; and this situation shall be published on the Bulletin. In case the compensatory fee is paid within two months as of the date of notification regarding expiration of the patent right, the patent right will be re-validated as of the date of the payment; and it shall be published on the Bulletin. The notification regarding expiration of the patent right shall be made, at the latest, until the end of one-year time period that starts as of the date of due date in which the patent right expires.
Appeals can be lodged against the refusal decisions of TurkPatent. The appeal has to be filed through the intermediary of a representative who is registered as a trademark agent at TurkPatent and domiciled in Turkey. The appeal can only be filed within two months from the notification date of provisional refusal by WIPO. If no appeal is lodged against the decision, the designation will be considered as refused in Turkey.

The re-validation of the patent cannot interfere with third parties’ acquired rights who deserve such rights in consequence of expiration of the patent right. Third parties’ rights and their extent shall be determined by the court.

Turkey is a party to the European Patent Convention (EPC). European patents validated in Turkey are published in the Turkish Patent Bulletin and have the effect of a national patent.

Applications for the validation of a European Patent (EP) must be filed before TurkPatent within three months from the date of publication of the decision to grant the EP in the European Patent Bulletin.

It is not possible to request an extension for the respective filing.

A translation of patent specifications (i.e., description, claims, and drawings) into Turkish must be supplied.

If the Turkish translation of the specifications cannot be submitted during the filing of validation application, a time extension of three months can be requested only for the submission of the translation. It should be noted that the request is filed by paying an additional fee.

The Turkish translation of the patent specification must be approved by a sworn translator. The notarization of the translation, however, is not required.