Patent legislation in Turkey, which has become one of the most important production centers in the world due to its geographical location, production, and R&D capacity, has changed to comply with the European legislation on October 10, 2017, and is currently within the frame of the provisions of the SMK numbered 6769. A patent gives you a monopoly for a certain period of time within the borders of the country where it was registered to produce, use or sell your invention. Also, license income can be obtained by granting patent usage rights to other companies under the conditions specified by the patent owner. For an invention to get a patent, it must satisfy certain criteria.

You can also choose to protect your invention by making a Utility Model application. A patent is a more costly and long process, besides requiring additional conditions. If the subject of your invention is suitable, you can choose Utility Model protection by aiming for a shorter protection period or to initiate legal action in a short time. As far as the subject permits, every patent application can turn into a Utility Model application, but the reverse is not always the case.

Main Differences between Patent and Utility Model in Turkey

As there are similarities between both protections, there are also points where they differ. The main ones are;

• While novelty and invention step criteria are sought to obtain a patent certificate, only novelty criteria are sought for utility model certificates.
• While methods can be the subject of patents, they cannot be the subject of utility models.
• Methods in the field of patents, chemistry, pharmacy, biotechnology can be the subject of patents, but they cannot be the subject of utility models.
• Unlike the patent, there is no establishment review in the process of obtaining the Utility model certificate. For the utility model, the establishment only conducts novelty research.
• While the patent can be protected for a maximum of 20 years, in the utility model this period is 10 years.