International Patent

According to Paris international agreement also signed by Turkey on intellectual property and TRIPS agreement of World Trade Organization (WTO), patents are protected only in the countries in which they are registered. If the patented product, production method or system will be used abroad, it is necessary to apply for patent and get protection in those countries. Especially if exporting companies have countries that they export and they plan to export in their strategic plans, in those countries they must apply for a patent for at least one year from the date of first application. If the patent exceeds 1 year for its application abroad, it is not considered as new, therefore, the patent will be rejected because it will not meet the “innovation” criteria which is the first of the patent conditions.

There are three ways for a holder of a grant who wants to protect its patent abroad;

Classical Territorial Patent Application:

Such an application is always valid for 1 year before the first application date. Because patent applications in the world are generally similar, a patent in Turkey is normally registered under the laws of the country concerned. Therefore, the application is made by the patent attorney of the country. Classical territorial patent application is generally an expensive and demanding way. On the other hand, as the number of countries with 1 year restriction from the date of first application increases, shorter application costs will increase. Classical application should be preferred if the number of countries to apply abroad is low.

PCT International Patent Application:

A patent of which application has been made can make PCT international patent application to Patent Cooperation Treaty including Turkey within 1 year from the date of first application. After such an application, it can switch in the participating countries within an average of 30 months and protect its application there. The states parties to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) are almost 95% of all world countries. Therefore, the most commonly used method for converting a patent to an international patent is this method, PCT is an international patent application.

The most important advantages of PCT International Patent Application are;

You can apply to PCT within 1 year, but there is the possibility to postpone costs in countries up to 30 months. Thus, the opportunity to go to those countries to test the market or to direct marketing can be used.

Separate patent search for each country is not necessary. A single patent search is sufficient.

Possibility of savings and time spread on wages arises. However, when we apply for a classic territorial patent, we have 1 year and all expenses are obliged to start within 1 year. However, in PCT international patent, the cost of transition to the country is postponed by almost 30 months. During this time, if there is also a patent infringement risk in countries, legal intervention can be done quickly. In a way, this means temporary patent protection in the countries covered by the PCT agreement.

Regional Patent Application:

Regional patent protection can be provided with a single patent application to the countries in a region such as European Union countries, some African countries and some Arab countries. The main advantage of this system is that it provides a common protection in countries involved the region with a single application. Regarding this, the most important regional patent protection concerning an applicant in Turkey is European Patent Convention (EPC). Apart from this, there are Eurasian Patent (EUA) including Russia and North Caucasus countries, Patent Protection in some African countries (OAIP, ARIPO) and patent agreements between some Arab countries.

European Patent Convention (EPC) is valid between 38 countries including Turkey. Under the agreement, patents may be filed in any of the English, German and French languages. Patent processes are carried out by the European Patent Office. This agreement is an important agreement for companies working in the European market.

For patent applications abroad, the most significant thing is well-known country practices and international practices. According to the international agreements, attorneys of one country cannot transact in another country. But if you want to transact in another country, it is necessary to contact the representative of that country and make transactions. The second important issue in this case is to know the attorney of the relevant country. Normally, an attorney can be found and works can be delivered to him/her. However, submitting the work relying solely on information on websites about an important issue like patent sometimes can cause inescapable damage.

KORDINAT conducts international patent protection with patent attorneys who are knowledgeable and experienced on the subject at international level. Attorneys abroad are selected according to the same criteria.