PATENT REGISTRATION

What is an Invention?

A patent can generally be defined as a kind of monopoly right that grants the inventor the right to produce, use, sell and export a product or method containing a technical innovation that can be defined under the title of "invention" for a certain period of time. The essence of the patent is invention.

Patent and Utility Model registration provides the owner with the right to prevent the unauthorized production, sale, use or import of the invention by third parties.

Patent and Utility Model registration provides the owner with the right to prevent the unauthorized production, sale, use or import of the invention by third parties.

Patent registration appears as a system that grants the owner a monopoly right to the invention subject to the patent, valid for a certain period of time. Roughly gives the upper hand.

Importance of Patent

First of all, we should all know and value the importance of patents for our country.

Nowadays, with the development of technology, patents increase their effectiveness and economic value day by day. For example, we have all experienced the importance of pharmaceutical patents during the pandemic period.

While patents and utility models were regulated by the Decree Law No. 551 on the Protection of Patent Rights in the period before 10.01.2017, they are regulated by the Industrial Property Law No. 6769 as of 10.01.2017.

Although we still refer to the Industrial Property Law as the new IP Law, radical changes have been introduced in terms of patent/utility model protection and registration process over the past years.

Although significant changes have been made in terms of registration and objection processes, the most important innovation is undoubtedly the change in patent registration types.

While the opportunity to register as Patent with Examination, Patent without Examination and Utility Model was offered during the Decree Law period, the patent system without examination was abolished with the Industrial Property Law and the registration of Patent with Examination and Utility Model continues.

Accurate determinations and determinations made at the initial stage of the invention will pave the way for the entire process.

Again, as an important change, while formal examination was carried out in the registration of utility models during the Decree Law period, the requirement to obtain a research report for utility models was regulated during the Law period. Thus, the registration of inventions that are not innovative or industrially applicable is prevented.

Innovation Criterion

The most important element in patent registrations is the "innovation criterion". The concept of innovation can be briefly explained as the fact that the invention has not existed before worldwide. Again, the invention subject to the patent must not be included in the world-wide known state of the art in the relevant field.

Scope, Conditions and Duration of Protection

The rights provided to the inventor by the patent or utility model are granted to the inventor for a certain period of time in return for disclosing the product or method subject to the invention to the public, and this period is 20 years from the date of application for a patent and 10 years from the date of application for a utility model. As of the end of this period, the monopoly right of the inventor on the product or method disappears. In other words, the subject of the invention becomes available to everyone.

Although the rights arising from the patent application provide protection to the owner as of the application date, the patent or utility model must be published in order to be used against third parties.

In order for an invention to be registered and protected as a patent; It must meet the criteria of being new, containing an inventive step, and being industrially applicable. Again, in order for an invention to be registered and protected as a Utility Model, the criteria are that it must be new and be industrially applicable. Inventions that meet these criteria are protected by issuing a registration certificate.

In order for an invention to be protected by a "registration certificate", it must absolutely meet the criteria mentioned above. In order for an invention or method to be covered by patent or utility model protection, in some cases, a small but convenient innovation in the product or method may be sufficient to provide protection.

Patent / Utility Model protection is of great importance in terms of producing and disseminating innovations in the development of today's technology. The protection provided by the "Patent Registration Certificate" and "Utility Model Registration Certificate" is achieved by granting the inventor the monopoly right and time to recycle the labor and time spent in making the invention. If the monopoly right is not granted for a certain period of time, patent protection appears as a preferred type of registration, as the inventor's announcement of his invention to the public will allow him to benefit from the invention without wasting effort and capital.

The most important element in patent registration is to determine the scope of protection well. As a matter of fact, since the scope of patent protection is determined by the "claims" in the patent application, the writing of the claims in the patent is very important in terms of ensuring effective protection. In legal practice, it is very sad for the rights holders that the protection expected from patent registrations cannot be provided against counterfeit products because the claims in many patent applications are not prepared in accordance with the protection that the inventor wants to provide.

In this context, our team primarily makes a difference in understanding the subject of the invention in the best way and bringing together all the elements in the application in order to provide protection for the invention to the patent owner in the most effective way.