WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO STOP THE VIOLATION OF A PATENT RIGHT?

The holder of a patent can demand the following from the Law Courts

1. To stop and prevent the violations against the rights arising from patents and utility models,

2. To eliminate the violation and to compensate the material and immaterial rights,

3. To confiscate the products that had been produced and exported by violation and the tools used in the manufacture of the same,

4. If it is possible, to give the property right of the confiscated products and the tools to the beneficial owner,

5. To take necessary measures in order to prevent the violation, in particular, in patents and utility models, to change the shapes of the confiscated products and the tools, or if it is impossible to prevent the violation arising from the patent, to destruct them,

6. To notify the court decree on the person, who violated the rights arising from patent and utility model, to the relevant parties on the cost of the violator, and to declare the decree to public; the declaration may be requested to be published in the biggest three newspapers of the Turkey.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO STOP THE VIOLATION OF A DESIGN RIGHT?

The holder of a industrial design can demand the following from the Law Courts

1. Determination of the act of infringement,

2. Prevention of the act of infringement,

3. Satisfaction and the recovery of infringement,

4. Seizure of the imitated products and the machines producing these products,

5. Return of the ownership of the seized machines and products to the owner of the registration certificate,

6. Announcement of the court's decisions on condition of the "the payment of fee by the aggressor"

7. Compensation with the material damages of the owner of the registration certificate.

FAIR USE OF A TRADE/SERVICE MARK

Unregistered marks can not be prevented by decree-law 556. owner of a such trademark should take an action referring to the Unfair Competition Judgments In Terms Of Turkish Trade Law.

Owner of a registered trademark can take both civil and criminal actions. Preliminary injunctions can be claimed in actions. IP litigation in Turkey generally begins at specialised IP or civil courts depending on the place of judgment, and moves on to the Supreme Court if an appeal is filed.

Both civil and criminal actions regarding Intellectual and Industrial property matters are handled by the "Civil Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property and Criminal Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property" established as specialized courts. Said courts are presently only established in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir.

If the infringer is resident in Istanbul, Ankara or Izmir the criminal or civil case will be lodged before the IP courts. Criminal proceedings can be instituted by filing a complaint directly with the public prosecutor.

Currently for the jurisdictions other than Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir, in the jurisdictions having more than one penal and/or commercial court, according to the decision of the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors, the 3rd Penal Court hears the penal actions for all Intellectual and Industrial Property matters whereas the civil actions are distributed amongst the Commercial Courts of the jurisdiction.

These Courts are competent also for all actions to be instituted versus T.P.I by third persons negatively affected or having suffered damage by the decisions of the T.P.I in any industrial property matter.

In general, civil actions may include requests for determination of infringement, cessation of the acts of infringement, seizure of counterfeit goods and compensation of damages. Criminal actions may include imprisonment, pecuniary punishment, closure of job sites and prohibition of commerce.

With the enactment of the package of Industrial Property Legislation under various Decree-Laws, of which No. 556 concerns the Trade/Service Marks, Article 57 has been added to the Customs Act No. 4458 to permit, upon complaint, under the suspension of release procedure the seizure by the customs of goods infringing the intellectual and/or industrial property rights, and among them the trade marks under protection in Turkey. Unless a court action is duly instituted or an interlocutory injunction is obtained from the court within 10 days from the seizure, the goods are released and the custom formalities proceed further.

In this regard, reference is also made to Article 79 of the Decree-Law No. 556, according to which, upon complaint, the customs authorities can seize counterfeit goods during importation or exportation. The main infringement action is to be instituted before the court within 10 days from the notification of seizure by the customs.

PENALTIES AND FINES

INVALIDITY

for invalidity of a registered trademark has to be instituted within five years from the date of registration. If there is bad faith time limit shall not apply.

AGAINST THE DECISION OF THE INSTITUTE

Appeals may be placed against the decisions of the Institute within two months after the date of notification of the decision.

When a trademark application has been refused by TPI and appeal hasn't been filed it is not possible to take an action in authorized court also.