WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/N/1/TUR/2
3 July 2000
(00-2730)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS
UNDER ARTICLE 63.2 OF THE AGREEMENT
TURKEY
By means of a communication from its Permanent Mission, dated 25 January 2000, the
Government of Turkey, in accordance with Article 63.2 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights, notifies its laws and regulations to the Council for Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights as follows:
- The national treatment provided for in the TRIPS Agreement was granted to WTO
Members on 1 January 1995, the date on which the ratification of the Marrakesh
Agreement by Turkey came into effect.
- The principal laws and regulations in the field of intellectual property contain rules
concerning certain fundamental principles, the existence, scope and exercise ofintellectual property rights (Parts I and II of the TRIPS Agreement) and rules
regarding the means of enforcing these rights (Part III) and the acquisition and
maintenance of them (Part IV).
- The laws and regulations listed appear in the Official Journal (O.J.) in which texts
appear in the order of their publication, which generally indicates their entry into
effect.
- It may be emphasised that the Law on Chip Topography, the Law on Plant Varieties
and Amending Law of the Intellectual and Artistic Works Act have been submitted in
their draft form.
- Annex I contains the principal laws and regulations concerning intellectual property:
Laws and regulations exclusively concerning intellectual property:
- Copyright and related rights and cinematographic works
- Trademarks- Geographical indications
- Industrial designs
- Patents (including protection of plant varieties)
- Layout designs (topographies) of integrated circuits (draft)
- Plant breeders’ right (draft)- Control of anti-competitive practices in licences (provided in the brief
description of each legislation)
- Enforcement of rights (provided in the brief description of each legislation)
- Acquisition and maintenance of intellectual property rights and related
inter partes  procedures. (provided in the brief description of each legislation)IP/N/1/TUR/2
Page 2
- Annex II contains other laws and regulations:
- General means for protection
- Turkish Commercial Code
- Protection of undisclosed information
- Contract Law
- Turkish Commercial Code
- Regulation on Pharmaceutical Products
- Civil Servants Act
- Civil judicial procedures and remedies including judicial measures
- Act of Civil Procedure
- International Private Law
- Special requirements related to border measures
- Customs Code
- Customs Regulation
- Criminal procedures
- Act of Criminal Procedure
- Turkish Criminal Code
- Control of anti-competitive practices
- Act on the Protection of Competition
- Competition Board Circular on Exclusive Distribution Agreements
- Competition Board Circular on Franchising
- Answers to the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement.1
                                                     
1 See document IP/N/6/TUR/1.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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ANNEX I
MAIN DEDICATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS AND REGULATIONS
TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Copyright and related rights
Law Nº 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works2,
as last amended on 7 June 1995 by Law Nº 4110.
Date of adoption:  5 December 1951.
Entry into force:  1 January 1951.(Official Journal:  13 December 1951/7931)The Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works
covers the moral and financial rights of authors
who create the works and performers who
perform or interpret works, phonogram producers
and broadcasting organizations, utilisation andprocedures of the rights, judicial remedies and
sanctions, duties and liabilities of the Ministry of
Culture.
In the Law:
1. categories of works by articles 2-6;
2. authorship of works, moral rights and
financial rights  of author and limitations byarticles 8-47;
3. contracts and utilisation by articles 48-65;4. cases of jurisprudence and penalty by articles
66-79;
5. neighbouring rights and prevention of
infringement to intellectual property rights byarticles 80-82
have been regulated.
In the current law, in case of infringement on the
rights of the authors and the owners of the
neighbouring rights, articles 71, 72, 73, 80 and 81require the term of imprisonment between
3 months and 1 year and penalties between 300
and 600 million Liras.
However, so long as imprisonment and penalties
to the infringements are not sufficiently deterrent,
a draft law for amendment of some articles of the
law was prepared to increase penalties, establish
specialized courts, regulate  the measures for
seizing infringing copies at the customs so as tofulfill our obligations related to the TRIPS
Agreement.
The explanations about the Draft Law follow
below.
                                                     
2 See document IP/N/1/TUR/C/1.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Draft Law on amending some articles of
Intellectual and Artistic Works Law Nº 58462Under Turkey-EU Customs Union, within the
framework of the harmonization of legislation, to
fulfill the obligations in Annex 8 joint Council
Decision 1/95, some articles in Law Nº 5846modified by  Law Nº 4110, entered into force on
6 June 1995.
Following the entering into force, Law Nº 4110,
the Laws concerning the participation to the"Rome Convention for the Protection of
Performers, Producers of Phonograms" and
"Bern Convention on the Protection of Literary
and Artistic Works (amended  by Paris Text in
1979)", went into effect after being published in
Official Journal Nº 22341 on 12 July 1995.
However, that some articles in Law Nº 5846
modified by Law Nº 4110  were not harmonized
with the above-mentioned international
conventions was conceived after some technical
studies.
In this context, to  comply with Council
Directives and the aforementioned international
conventions and to fulfill the obligations under
the TRIPS Agreement, a draft law amendingsome articles of Law Nº 5846 was prepared.
Arrangements by the Draft Law were achieved
in compliance with Council Directive, Rome and
Bern Conventions, TRIPS Agreement and WIPOCopyright Treaty, WIPO Performances and
Phonograms Treaty.  (Turkey is planning to be a
party to the last two mentioned Treaties.)
By the Bill, it is aimed:1. to amend Article 23 concerning the right
of distribution;
2. to amend Article 25 concerning the right
of communication to the public by any
means of transmitting signs, sounds orimages;IP/N/1/TUR/2
Page 5
TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
3. to modify Article 43 concerning the right
of the payment pertaining to the authors
whose works are transmitted and/orbroadcasted by broadcasting
organizations;
4. to amend Articles 71, 72 and 80
concerning the criminal articles in case ofinfringement of moral and financial
rights of the authors and right holders of
neighbouring rights for increasing
penalties (imprisonment between
1 and 3 years and fines between 5-10
billion Liras),
5. to amend Articles 73-81 with the aim of
preventing piracy activities for increasing
penalties (imprisonment between
2 and 4 years and fines between
10 and 15 billion Liras);
6. to modify Article 75 with the aim of
increasing the imprisonment and fine in
case of repetition of the act;
7. to modify article 76, for the
establishment of specialized courts;
8. to amend article 77, for the closure of the
business places where piracy takes placeand confiscation of infringing copies;
9. to change Article 80, for the regulations
of the provisions concerning moral and
financial rights;
10. to amend the annex to Article 2, for
providing retroactive protection of
intellectual and artistic works.IP/N/1/TUR/2
Page 6
TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Law Nº 3257 on Cinema, Video and Music
Works of Art3
Date of adoption:  23 January 1986.
Entry into force: 7 February 1986.
(Official Journal:  7 February 1986/19012)This law comprises the citation, creation of the
artistic works, inspection, display, making the
products of Turkish cinema and musical art,which are branches of industry and art, and the
principles and procedures of the protection of
copyright, display and execution right, which
arise from the aforesaid process.
Statute on the Professional Unions and
Federation of the Authors and Owners of the
Neighbouring Rights4
Entry into force:  1 April 1999.(Official Journal:  1 April 1999/23653)This Statute under Article 42 of Intellectual and
Artistic Works Law Nº 5846 provides forconditions for establishing professional unions
and federations for the authors of the works and
the owners of neighbouring rights, duties,
revenues, inspections, membership,
remuneration and royalties and other procedural
issues.
Regulations on Neighbouring Rights to the
Authors of Works4
Entry into force: 16 November 1997.
(Official Journal:  16 November 1997/23172)This Regulation covers principles and rules to
regulate neighbouring rights, and the rights of
performers, phonogram producers and
broadcasting organizations.
Regulations on the Marking of Intellectual and
Artistic Works5
Entry into force:  16 November 1997.(Official Journal:  16 November 1997/23172)This Regulation covers principles and
procedures, for marking intellectual and artisticworks and stickers (security holograms) on non-
periodicals.
Amendments to the Regulations regarding the
Marking of Intellectual and Artistic Works5This Regulation amends two Articles of theMarking of Intellectual and Artistic Works
Regulation and introduces a new Article to the
said Regulation.
                                                     
3 See document IP/N/1/TUR/C/2.
4 See document IP/N/1/TUR/C/3.
5 See document IP/N/1/TUR/C/4.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Regulation on Inspection of Cinema, Video and
Music Works of Art6
Entry into force:  4 September 1986.
(Official Journal:  4 September 1986/19211)The objectives of this Regulation are:  to
determine the persons who are entitled to produce
and import films, video cassettes, audiocassettesand their qualifications, rules to obey,
unprofessional works and to determine the
principles of the co-productions that shall be
produced by foreigners who want to make films
in Turkey for commercial purposes, naturalpersons or legal entities of Turkish nationality
who work on behalf of foreigners and legal and
the nature of the people of Turkish nationality.
Regulation on Enterprise License to Be Given to
the Film, Video, Record and Cassette
Administrators6
Entry into force:  4 September 1986.(Official Journal:  4 September 1986/19211)This regulation comprises the principles, rules
and the requested qualifications for natural
persons or legal entities who produce, retail, sell,
rent or display the works of motion pictures,
phonogram and sound recordings having licenseor the like to more than one person.
General laws and regulations exclusivelyconcerning industrial property
Decree-Law Nº 544 for the Establishment
and the Functions of the Turkish Patent
Institute7
Adopted on 19 June 1994.
Entry into force:  24 June 1994.
(Official Journal:  24 June 1994/21970)Establishes the Turkish Patent Institute for the
protection of industrial property rights.
Fees for patents, trademarks, industrial designs,
geographical signs are established with the
official communiqué above. Mentioned fees are
determined according to that official
communiqué every year.
                                                     
6 See document IP/N/1/TUR/C/5.
7 See document IP/N/1/TUR/I/1.IP/N/1/TUR/2
Page 8
TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Trademarks
Decree-Law Nº 556 on the Protection of
Trademarks8
Date of adoption:  24 June 1995.
Entry into force:  27 June 1995.
(Official Journal:  27 June 1995/22326)Aim, scope, definitions and persons entitled to
protection, sign of which a trademark may consist
and means whereby a trademark is obtained,
scope of protection, use of the trademark, legaltransactions related with trademark rights,
application and registration procedures,
publication, duration, invalidity, appeals,
guarantee and collective marks, infringement.
Implementing Regulations under Decree-Law
Nº 556 pertaining to the Protection of
Trademarks9
Entry into force:  5 November 1995.
(Official Journal:  5 November 1995/22454)Part One, Section Two of the Decree-Law
explains the signs of which a trademark may
consist and means whereby a trademark is
obtained in line with Article 15 of the TRIPS
Agreement.
- Amended Implementing Regulation on
Trademarks
Date of adoption:  20 April 1999.
Entry into force:  20 April 1999.
(Official Journal:  20 April 1999/23672)Part Three, Sections Two and Three of the
Decree-Law states publication of the application
and observations and oppositions by third parties
are also in line with Article 15 of the TRIPSAgreement.
Part One, Section Three of the Decree-Law
explains the scope of protection of trademarks is
in line with Article 16 paragraph 1 of the TRIPSAgreement.
Well known marks according to 6 bis of the Paris
Convention, use of which are not permitted by
their owners shall not be registered as atrademark, according to Article 7/i.  According to
Article 8 paragraph 4 of the  Decree-Law, a
trademark applied for, which is identical or
similar to a registered trademark or to a
trademark with an earlier filing date may be usedfor different goods and services.
                                                     
8 See document IP/N/1/TUR/T/1.
9 See document IP/N/1/TUR/T/2.IP/N/1/TUR/2
Page 9
TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
However, where in the case of a registered
trademark or of a trademark which has an earlier
filing date for registration, the trademark has areputation and where the use without due cause
of trademark applied for would take unfair
advantage of, or be detrimental to the distinctive
character or repute of the registered trademark or
of the trademark with an earlier application date,upon opposition by the proprietor of the earlier
trademark, the trademark applied for shall not be
registered even to be used for goods and services
which are not similar to those for which the
earlier trademark is registered.
The provisions of Decree-Law Nº 556 shall
apply, mutatis mutandis to services.
Exceptions mentioned in Article 17 of the TRIPS
Agreement are regulated in Article 12 of Decree-
Law Nº 556.
According to Articles 40 and 41 of the Decree-
Law a trademark is registered for a period of ten
years;  registration may be renewed for further
periods of ten years indefinitely.  These Articlesare in line with Article 18 of the TRIPS
Agreement.
Article 14 of Decree-Law Nº 556 is in line with
Articles 19 and 20 of the TRIPS Agreement.
Part one, Section five of Decree-Law Nº 556 is in
line with Article 21 of the TRIPS Agreement.IP/N/1/TUR/2
Page 10
TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Geographical Indications
Decree-Law Nº 555 on the Protection of
Geographical Signs10
Date of adoption:  24 June 1995.
Entry into force:  27 June 1995.
(Official Journal:  27 June 1995/22326)General provisions, scope of protection and
usage, invalidity of geographical signs and
termination of the protection period, infringement
of geographical signs and procedures forinfringement.
Implementing Regulations under the Decree-
Law Nº 555 pertaining to the Protection of
Geographical Signs11
Entry into force:  5 November 1995.
(Official Journal:  5 November 1995/22454)Article 3 and Article 15 of the Decree-Law are in
line with Articles 22 and 23 of the TRIPSAgreement.
Industrial Designs
Decree-Law Nº 554 on the Protection of
Industrial Designs12
Date of adoption:  24 June 1995.Entry into force:  27 June 1995.
(Official Journal:  27 June 1995/22326)General provisions, entitlement, claims and
limitations, registration, renewal, opposition
transfer of application and design rights, license
agreements, invalidity of the design andtermination of the design right, infringement of
design right and civil procedures for
infringement, etc.
Implementing Regulations under Decree-Law
Nº 554 pertaining to the Protection of
Industrial Designs13
Date of adoption:  5 November 1995.Entry into force: 5 November 1995.
(Official Journal:  5 November 1995/22454)Article 5 of the Decree-Law is in line with Article
25(1) of the TRIPS Agreement.  Textile designs
shall be protected by this Law Nº 554.
Articles 26, 28 and 35 of the Decree-Law shall be
implemented especially for textile designapplications.
- Amended Implementing Regulation
Date of adoption: 31 December 1997.
Entry into force:  31 December 1997.
(Official Journal:  31 December 1997/23217)Article 17 is in line with paragraph 1 of Article
26 of the TRIPS Agreement. Limitations on thedesign right are mentioned in Articles 21, 22, 23
and 24 of the Decree-Law.  The duration of
protection is explained in Article 12 of Decree-
Law Nº 554.
                                                     
10 See document IP/N/1/TUR/G/1.
11 See document IP/N/1/TUR/G/2.
12 See document IP/N/1/TUR/D/1.
13 See document IP/N/1/TUR/D/2.IP/N/1/TUR/2
Page 11
TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Patents
Decree-Law Nº 551 on the Protection of
Patent Rights14,
(as amended by Decree-Law Nº 566 of
22 September 1995, and amended, added toand partly repealed by Law Nº 4128 of
7 November 1995.
Date of Adoption:  24 June 1995.
Entry into force:  27 June 1995.(Official Journal:  27 June 1995/22326)Preliminary provisions, right to a patent,
employees invention, granting a patent, rights
conferred by a patent, legal transactions,
compulsory license, patents-of-addition andsecret patents, invalidation, termination,
infringement, utility model, etc.
- Transitional Article 4 as amended by
Decree-Law Nº 566
Date of adoption:  19 September 1995.
Entry into force:  22 September 1995.
(Official Journal:  22 September 1995/22412)Transitional Article 4:  the patent protection of
pharmaceutical and veterinary products and of
processes for the production thereof under the
Decree-Law Nº 566 shall commence on1 January 1999.
This amendment is in line with Article 65.4 of the
TRIPS Agreement.
Implementing Regulations under Decree-Law
Nº 551 pertaining to the Protection of Patent
Rights14
Date of adoption:  5 November 1995.Entry into force:  5 November 1995.
(Official Journal:  5 November 1995/22454)Patentable subject matters are explained in
Articles 5 and 6 in line with Article 27 of the
TRIPS Agreement.
Article 73 of Decree-Law Nº 551 is in line with
the second sentence of paragraph 1 of Article 27
of the TRIPS Agreement.
- Amended Regulation
Date of adoption:  6 December 1998.
Entry into force:  6 December 1998.
(Official Journal:  6 December 1998/23545)Article 80 of Decree-Law Nº 551 is in line withparagraph 2 of Article 27 of the TRIPS
Agreement.
Scope of right conferred by a patent is explained
in Articles 73 and 76 and are in line with  Article
28 paragraph 1(a) of the TRIPS Agreement.
Article 84 of Decree-Law Nº 551 related with the
rights pertaining to process patents is in line with
Article 28 paragraph 1(b) of the TRIPS
Agreement.
                                                     
14 See document IP/N/1/TUR/P/1.IP/N/1/TUR/2
Page 12
TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Article 86 of Decree-Law Nº 551 provides that
the application for patents or a patent may be
transferred into some other party, may beinherited or the right to use same may be subject
to license.  This Article is in line with Article 28
paragraph 2 of the TRIPS Agreement.
Article 46 of the Decree Law is in line with the
first paragraph of Article 29 of the TRIPS
Agreement.
Part Four, Section One of Decree Law Nº 551
explains the conditions on patent applications and
is in line with  Article 29 of the TRIPS
Agreement.
Articles 75 and 76 of Decree-Law Nº 551 are in
line with Article 30 of the TRIPS Agreement.
Article 99 is in line with Article 31(a) of the
TRIPS Agreement.
The first paragraph of Articles 104 and 108 are in
line with the first sentence of Article 31(b) of the
TRIPS Agreement.
The last paragraph of Article 103 is in line with
the second sentence of Article 31(b) of the TRIPS
Agreement.
The last paragraph of Article 103 is in line with
the third sentence of Article 31(b) of the TRIPS
Agreement.
The last paragraph of Article 103 is in line with
the fourth sentence of Article 31(b) of the TRIPS
Agreement.
The second paragraph of Article 110 is in line
with Article 31(c) of the TRIPS Agreement.
The first paragraph of Article 114 is in line with
Article 31(d) of the TRIPS Agreement.
The first paragraph of Article 117 is in line with
Article 31(e) of the TRIPS Agreement.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Article 102 is in line with Article 31(f) of the
TRIPS Agreement.
The third and fourth paragraphs of Article 110
and the second paragraph of Article 118 are in
line with Article 31(g) of the TRIPS Agreement.
The last paragraph of Article 114 and the third
paragraph of Article 110 are in line with Article
31(h) of the TRIPS Agreement.
Articles 110 and 118 are in line with Article 31(i)
of the TRIPS Agreement.
Article 108 (the courts are authorized) is in line
with Article 31(j) of the TRIPS Agreement.
Article 93 is in line with Article 31(k) of the
TRIPS Agreement.
Article 99(b) and Article 101 are in line with
Article 31(l) of the TRIPS Agreement.
The first paragraph of Article 101 is in line with
Article 31(l) i of the TRIPS Agreement.
The second paragraph of Article 101 is in line
with Article 31(l) ii of the TRIPS Agreement.
The first paragraph of Article 117 is in line with
Article 31(l) iii of the TRIPS Agreement.
Part Nine, Section One of Decree-Law Nº 551 is
in line with Article 32 of the TRIPS Agreement.
The term of a patent granted with examination
shall be a non-extendible period of 20 years fromthe date of filing the application mentioned in
Article 72 of the Decree-Law and is in line with
Article 33 of the TRIPS Agreement.
Article 84 of Decree-Law Nº 551 is in line with
Article 34 of the TRIPS Agreement.
The third paragraph of Article 83 of the Decree-
Law is in line with Article 39 of the TRIPS
Agreement.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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TITLE
DATE OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY
INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Layout-designs of integrated circuits
Draft Law on the Protection of Layout-Designs of
Integrated Circuits15General provisions, right to protection, limitation
of protection application and registration, legal
transactions related with the application and
registration right, invalidity and termination ofthe right, infringement of right and civil
procedures, exploitation by a government agency
or third person, penal provisions, etc.
Articles 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12 and 13 of the Draft
Law are in line with Article 35 of the TRIPS
Agreement.
Article 12 is in line with Article 36 of the TRIPS
Agreement.
Article 13 paragraph (d) is in line with
Article 37(1) of the TRIPS Agreement.
Part Eight of the Draft Law is in line with Article
37(2) of the TRIPS Agreement.
Article 7 of the Draft Law is in line with Article
38 of the TRIPS Agreement.
Protection of undisclosed information
Decree-Law Nº 551 on the Protection of
Patent Rights14,
(as amended by Decree-Law Nº 566 of
22 September 1995, and amended, added toand partly repealed by Law Nº 4128 of
7 November 1995.
Date of adoption:  24 June 1995.
Entry into force:  27 June 1995.(Official Journal:  27 June 1995/22326)According to Article 83 paragraph 3, where an
application for a patent has been filed for
pharmaceutical or veterinary products / drugs and
for chemicals destined to agriculture, theauthorities issuing authorizations / licenses for
the manufacture and sale of such products and
requesting for this purpose information and test
results, that were not disclosed to the public and
the realization and accumulation of whichrequires considerable expenses and efforts, shall
keep such information and test results secret /
confidential. The authority asking for necessary
measures to prevent unjustified / illegitimate use
thereof.  This Article is in line with Article 39 of
the TRIPS Agreement.
                                                     
15 See document IP/N/1/TUR/L/1.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Control of anti-competitive practices in
licenses
Decree-Law Nº 551 on the Protection of
Patent Rights14,
(as amended by Decree-Law Nº 566 of22 September 1995, and amended, added toand partly repealed by Law Nº 4128 of
7 November 1995.
Date of adoption:  24 June 1995.
Entry into force:  27 June 1995.(Official Journal:  27 June 1995/22326)Article 93 states that where a patentee commits
an act in violation of the general provisions on
unfair competition while putting his patent
(application) to use, the court may condemn thepatentee to offer his patent for licensing.
Part Seven of Decree Law Nº 551 dealing with
compulsory license is in line with Article 40 of
the TRIPS Agreement.
Draft Law on the Protection of Layout-
Designs of Integrated Circuits15Part Eight  of the Draft Law related withexploitation by a Government Agency or a thirdperson is in line with Article 40 of the TRIPS
Agreement.
Enforcement of intellectual property rights
Addition of Penal Provisions to Decree-Laws
Nº 551, 554, 555 and 556 by Law Nº 412816
(These  provisions are included in each law.)
Date of adoption:  3 November 1995.
Entry into force:  7 November 1995.(Official Journal:  7 November  1995/22456)According to Law Nº 4128, three kinds of
conditions and penalties have been defined for
each of the industrial property rights (patents,
industrial designs, geographical signs and
trademarks)
- False declaration and removing the signs:
fine, ................ and 1-2 years
imprisonment.
- Extension of the rights without
authorization: fine, ..............and 2-3 years
imprisonment.
- Infringement: fine, ..............and 2-4 years
imprisonment, closing the enterprise forminimum 1 year.
                                                     
16 See documents IP/N/1/TUR/P/1,   IP/N/1/T UR/D/1, IP/N/1/TUR/G/2 and IP/N/1/TUR/T/1,
respectively.IP/N/1/TUR/2
Page 16
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INTO FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
The above-mentioned provisions took place in:
Decree Law Nº 551:  Article 73/ ;Decree Law Nº 554:  Article 48/ ;Decree Law Nº 555:  Article 24/A;  and
Decree Law Nº 556:  Article 61/A.
These provisions are in line with Article 41 of the
TRIPS Agreement.
Draft Law on the Protection of Layout-
Designs of Integrated Circuits15Part Nine, Section One of the Draft Law is in line
with Article 41 of the TRIPS Agreement.
Acquisition and maintenance of
intellectual property rights and related
inter partes  proceduresSee, in particular, the laws referred to under the
following headings:  Trademarks, Geographical
indications, Industrial designs, Patens and
Layout-designs of integrated circuits.
Industrial property
Draft Law related to Breeder Protection
Rights for New Plant Varieties17The Draft Law has been prepared by taking the
1991 text of the UPOV Contract.
The purpose of this Draft, which covers the
whole plant varieties, is to encourage the
development of new plant varieties, and to
provide the prevention of breeders rights. At thesame time, it also aims the protection of the rights
of the real and legal persons of the nationals of
the States which provide legal or actual
protection to the citizens of the Republic of
Turkey in accordance with the reciprocityprinciple.
                                                     
17 See document IP/N/1/TUR/P/2.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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The plant varieties indicated in this Draft Law
which have novelty (5), distinctness (6),
uniformity (7) and stability (8) conditions;  incase they have not been sold for the purpose of
usage or if they are not offered to public, for one
year inside country, four years abroad, for six
years for trees and grapevines, beforehand, do
make use of within the framework of this DraftLaw, provided that they are named (9) and the
affection of the payment of the fee (34).
Article 10:  The period of protection is 20 years.
This period is 25 years for trees and grapevines.
Article 14:  The breeder right belonging to new
plant varieties belongs to the breeder himself or
his legal successors, and monopoly rights are
given to the owner of the right for production or
reproduction, offering for sale or to the market, to
prepare for the purpose of reproduction, to exportor to import, and to store for all these activities
that do not have commercial purposes, are
outside the authorization.
Article 17:  The plant varieties which are taken
into farmers exception have been determined by
counting them, it is made possible that the
farmers to make use of the production they make
in their own fields, and the reproduction material
of the protected varieties again in their ownfields, for production. Those farmers who have
fields to produce 92 tons of grains or less, will
make use of farmer exception.
Article 18:  The obligatory license conditions are
determined in the Draft, and the right of
application for the obligatory license have beengiven. It has also been stated that the obligatory
license will only be given when public advantage
is existent, and what the public advantages are.
Article 19:  The situations of the exhausting of
the breeder rights are indicated.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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In the Draft, the breeder right conditions (21) are
determined, the use of the priority right (22) is
made possible in the application, theinvestigation way of the application (23) is
determined, and the reasons of rejection (30), and
objection to the application (25) situations are
counted.
Article 31:  In case the variety is found to be in
accordance with Article 4  of the Draft as a result
of the investigations and the owner of the
application has performed the processes indicated
in the law, then the breeder right is registered.
Article 33:  It has been made possible to make
objection to the registering on the grounds that
there would be lacking points in the processes, by
third persons.
Article 34:  The Draft states two types of fees.
The first one is related to certain transactions (i.e.
registration, application, issuing copies) made by
the Institute; the second one is charged annually.
Article 35:  The obligation undertaking of
keeping and counting of the protected variety or
its genetic parts, during the validity period of the
right to the owner of the right, in the Draft Law.
Article 37:  Within the jurisdiction of this
legislation regarding the application or
registration for one variety, can by natural right
be transferred or transferred by inheritance
means. These rights can be realised by death
dependant transactions.
Article 38:  It has been stated in the Draft that the
right of use which arises from the registering,
may be subject to a monopolized or non-
monopolized license contract, in such a way to be
effective in the borders of the country.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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Article 40:  It has been specified in the Draft in
cases where novelty, distinctness, uniformity and
stability conditions have not been realized by thedate of the application or when it is understood
that the application has been made in the name of
an unauthorised person;  the breeder right will be
counted as invalid by the court.
It has been stated that the demand for invalidity(41) would be requested by anybody who has
interest, and the effect of the invalidity (42) will
be retroactive.
Article 43:  It has been specified that in the
situations of termination of the registered breeder
right, the giving up by the owner of his right, andnot affecting the annual payments within the
determined periods, the right will end.
It has been determined in the Draft Law:  the
situations which are considered as violation of the
right (44), the demands (45) of the owner of theright in case of violation of the right (45), and the
courts which are authorized in the legal lawsuits.
Apart from these, it has been made possible that
the owner of the right may open lawsuits of
amount, lawsuit of determination (50), anddemand for precautionary measures.
Enforcement-sanctions:Article 54:  The cases of violation of the right are
counted in the Draft Law and it is determined that
those who commit the acts stated in
subparagraphs (a), (b), (e) and (f) of Article 44
on purpose are fined with a sentence of
imprisonment from thirteen months to two years
or they will be sentenced to pay a heavy fine
from five billion liras to ten billion liras or theywill be sentenced to both, and it will be decided
to close down the work places of those who deal
with commerce for a period of not less than one
year and they will be prohibited from trading for
the same period.  Those who violatesubparagraphs (c), (d) and (g) on purpose, will be
sentenced to pay a fine of five billion liras. Those
who announce themselves as the owner of the
right, which is against reality, these persons willIP/N/1/TUR/2
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be sentenced to pay a heavy fine of five billion
liras. In case acts mentioned in  subparagraphs
(a), (b) and (c) of Article 54  are committed bythe employees of a facility, directly by
themselves or by order while they were
performing their services, then the employees and
the owner of the facility who does not avoid the
committing of the act, his representative oradministrator or the person who manages the
facility under whatever name it might be, will
also be fined in the same way.  In case any of the
acts stated in Article 44  is committed, while the
works of a legal person are being made, then the
legal person is also jointly responsible for the
costs and sanctioned by a fine.
Article 56:  It is determined that the authorised
courts for all of the lawsuits related to this Draft
Law are the specialized courts.
A register (58) has been created by this Draft
Law which covers the register of breeder right.
Apart from this, it has been decided in the Draft
Law that a breeder right bulletin (59) will be
published that will cover the points mentioned inthe Draft Law.
Maintenance and Acquisition:Articles 60-84:  A new organization is
established by the Draft Law under the name of
Turkish Variety Register Protection and Seed
Certification Institution for the application of this
Draft, which is well-organised, with a perfect
infrastructure, which can conduct the
administrative processes, having the necessary
equipment and trained personnel, and incompliance with international standards.
Additionally, for the maintenance of the right,
Article 34 obliges the right owner to pay an
annual fee. Concerning acquisition, seeArticle 14.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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ANNEX II
OTHER LAWS AND REGULATIONS
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General means for protection
Turkish Commercial Code Nº 6762
Date of adoption:  29 June 1956.
Entry into force:  9 July 1956 .
(Official Journal:  9 July 1956/9353)Unfair competition rules laid down in Articles 56
to 65 of the Code provide general means for the
protection of intellectual property.
Article 56 states that unfair competition is the
abuse of economic competition in any manner
incompatible with good faith.
Article 57 provides the examples of acts
incompatible with good faith, in a non-exhaustive
manner.
The counting is wide enough to cover (some)copyright and (all) industrial property goods.
Article 58 brings civil remedies.Articles 64 and 65  state criminal remedies in the
form of imprisonment and/or fine.
Protection of undisclosed information
Contract Law Nº 818
Date of adoption:  22 April 1926.
Entry into force:  29 April 1926.
(Official Journal:  29 April 1926/ 359)Article 348:  Workers who have knowledge of
business secrets during the contract relation may
be prohibited from dealing with competing works
by employee.  Article 351:  The remedy for
infringement of Article 348 is compensation ofthe damage.
Turkish Commercial Code Nº 6762
Date of adoption:  29 June 1956.
Entry into force:  9 July 1956.
(Official Journal:  9 July 1956/9353)Protection of undisclosed information is provided
through the unfair competition provisions of theCode.
Article 57/7-8 describes the acts incompatible
with good faith and which constitute unfair
competition.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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Among those:
- deducing the employees, agents or other
assistants and getting them to divulge or
obtain the trading and manufacturing
secrets of  their employer or of his
agents;
- taking an illicit advantage from trading or
manufacturing secrets obtained or learnt
incompatible with good faith or divulging
them to others are acts that constitute
unfair competition.
Articles 58-63 provide civil remedies such as
prevention of infringement, compensation for
damages.
Article 64 provides criminal sanction for
imprisonment and/or fine.
Regulation on Pharmaceutical Products
Date of adoption:  2 March 1995.Entry into force:  2 March 1995.
(Official Journal:  2 March 1995/22218)Article 36 brings responsibility on the Ministry of
Health to protect the secrecy of information
disclosed by the applicant during the application
of marketing permission.
Civil Servants Act Nº 657
Date of adoption:  14 July 1965.Entry into force:  23 July 1965.(Official Journal:  23 July  1965/12056)The Act deals with service,  appointment,
promotion requirements and features of civil
servants in addition to their rights and
responsibilities while acting as a civil servant.
Civil servants employed in the Ministries (such
as Ministry of Health, Agriculture, Cultural
Affairs), directly related to intellectual and
industrial property, and in the institutes (such asTurkish Patent Institute) are all in the scope of
the Civil Servants Act Nº 657.
Article 31 prohibits to divulge secret business
information related to their service.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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Special requirements related to border
measures
Customs Law Nº 4458,
Article 57.
Date of adoption:  27 October 1999.
Entry into force:  5 February 2000.
(Official Journal:  4 November 1999/23866)Article 57 of this law provides a procedure to
enable the right holder or his representative to
lodge an application for the suspension by thecustoms authorities of the release into free
circulation of counterfeit trademark or pirated
copyright goods in accordance with Article 51 of
the Agreement.  The customs authorities are able
to carry out this procedure, where solid evidenceis available, on their own initiative.
In accordance with the legislation on the
protection of intellectual property rights,
regarding the rights of trademarks, geographical
indications and industrial designs, and the rights
covered by the Law on Intellectual and ArtisticWorks, the customs authorities can, upon request
or on their own initiative, suspend the customs
procedures of the goods infringing the rights of
the persons concerned.
This Article also provides securing the value of
goods in question, liability of the customs
authorities, obligation of the right holder to
initiate a legal proceeding leading to a decision
on the merits of the case or to provide for taking aprecautionary measure by a duly empowered
authority, destruction or disposal of the goods
whose customs procedures have been suspended
and the goods excluded from this procedure.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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Regulation on the Implementing Provisions of
Customs Law Nº 4458
Entry into force:  5 February 2000.
(Official Journal:  20 January 2000/23939)The Regulation enables the customs authorities to
enforce the provisions of Article 57 of Customs
Law Nº 4458.  It regulates, inter alia , the form of
application, action to be taken by the customs
authorities prior to and after a suspensive
decision, action for goods found infringing.
N.B.:  Prior to Customs Law Nº 4458, amended
Article 21 of Law Nº 1615 and inserted Section
Seven of the regulation on its implementing
provisions, which provides parallel provisions on
suspensive arrangements, except ex officio  action,
have been in force as from 1 January 1996.
Civil judicial procedures and remedies
Act of Civil Procedure Nº 1086
Date of adoption:  18 June 1927.Entry into force:  2,3, 4 July 1927.
(Official Journal:  2,3,4 July 1927/622,623,624)The Act deals with the administration of justice
and the procedural aspects of substantive law in
various legislation including copyright and
industrial property legislation.
Commencing an action, burden of proof and
means of proof, types of evidence, injunctions,
rendition of judgements and appeal are among the
procedural issues under the Act.
Article 104/2:  Local jurisdiction for interim
orders before the main action may be claimed in
the venue which will provide the judgement to be
taken less costly and more expeditiously
Articles 39 and 59:  Representation of the parties
either by their bodies (in case of legal persons) or
by their lawyers.
Article 213:  Absence in the hearing without an
acceptable excuse prevents the absentee fromrejection of the transactions initiated during the
hearing.  Nevertheless, there are no mandatory
requirements for  personal appearances before the
court since a written procedure applies.  The
judge applies the above-mentioned Article to
order the parties to appear in person for listening
to them regarding facts of the case.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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Articles 413-426 and 423/5:  The losing party
must pay the cost which includes attorney’s fee.
Article 110:  The plaintiff may be asked to pay a
security  to  meet  the  likely  damage  to the
defendant.
Article 422:  In case of a bad intention in
bringing an action, the plaintiff may be imposed
an administrative fine by the Court.
Article 105:  Where there is an  imminent
situation which requires the protection of the
plaintiff's interest at once, the court may order
provisional measures  inaudita altera parte.
Article 109:  Where the provisional ruling taken
before the action on the merit of the case, the
main action on the merit of the case should be
brought in 10 days from that ruling in order to
prevent losing its effect.
Article 113/2:  The person who prevents the
execution of the ruling  on  provisional  measures
shall be given imprisonment from 1 month to
6 months.
International Private Law Nº 2675
Date of adoption:  20 May 1982.Entry into force:  22 May 1982.
(Official Journal:  22 May 1982/17701)Article 32:  Foreigners who will bring action in
Turkey should give security  to  the  Court as
cautio judicatum solvi for  the  defendant's cost.
Nevertheless since  Turkey  is party  to the "1954
The Hague Convention Civil Procedure", foreignplaintiffs who are resident in, or nationals of one
of the States parties to the Convention, are not
ordered this payment.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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Criminal judicial procedure and remedies
Act of Criminal Procedure Nº 1412
Date of adoption:  4 April 1929.
Entry into force:  20 April 1929.(Official Journal:  20 April 1929/1172)The Act deals with such matters as the
identification and collection of evidence of
crimes, indictment of persons who engage in
crimes, the investigation, prosecution andadjudication of crimes, the procedure of criminal
trials, seizure and confiscation of goods  used in
the crime.
Criminal procedure on intellectual property shall
be initiated by complaints.
Article 423:  Complaints shall be treated as an
urgent matter.  Cases treated as an urgent matter
are dealt with during the period of judicial break(between 5 July-20 September).
Article 344/1-8:  Pursuant to Article 75 of the
Intellectual and Artistic Works Act, a private
person has the  right to initiate personal criminal
proceedings, in addition to the public prosecutor.
Nevertheless, in cases where the complaint is  arequirement, if the public prosecutor is bringing
action depends  on his  finding a  clear  public
benefit to do so (Articles 346 and 347).
Turkish Criminal Code Nº 765
Date of adoption:   1 March 1926.
Entry into force:  13 March 1926.(Official Journal:  13 March 1926/320)Article 36:  In case of conviction, articles used or
prepared to be used in the commission of the
felony or misdemeanour, or produced as a result
of the commission of the act, shall be seized and
confiscated, if they belong to parties involved inthe act.
Articles of which their use, manufacture, keeping,
transfer or sale constitute a felony or
misdemeanour, shall be seized and confiscatedeven if  a criminal conviction did not exist or
even if they  are not belonging to the offender.IP/N/1/TUR/2
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Amending Act of the Turkish Criminal Code
Nº 4421
Date of adoption:  28 July 1999.
Entry into force:  1 August 1999.
(Official Journal:  1 August 1999/23773)Article 4/b-9:  All the fines stated in the Acts
entered into force between 1 January 1994 and
31 December 1998, have been raised eight times.
[In accordance with this Article, the fines
introduced in the current Intellectual and Artistic
Works Act Articles 71-73, 80 and 81 have been
raised to (300  - 600 million) x 8 Turkish Lira.Similarly, the fines stated respectively in
Articles 73/A, 48/A, 61/a and 24/A of the
Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical
Indications Decrees , have been raised to (300  -
600 million) x 8 Turkish Lira, and (600 million -
1 billion) x 8 Turkish Lira.]
Article 5 stipulates a system of raising the fines
after the year 1999 by making reference to  a re-
evaluation ratio calculated yearly in accordance
with an average price raise for gros domestic
product.
Control of anti-competitive practices
Act on the Protection of Competition Nº 4054
Date of adoption:  7 December 1994.
Entry into force:  13 December 1994.
(Official Journal:  13 December 1994/22140)The Act prohibits agreements, decisions and
concerted practices in restraint of competition,and abuse of dominant position.
Block Exemption Circular on Exclusive
Distribution Agreements 1997/3
Entry into force:  4 September 1997.
(Official Journal:  4 September 1997/23100)The Competition Board has the competence to
issue exemption circulars which are similar toblock exemption regulations of the EEC.
Block Exemption Circular on Franchising 1998/7
Entry into force:  16 December 1998.(Official Journal:  16 December 1998/23555)
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