Industrial design registration — Design protection conditions

Industrial design registration

Industrial design protection concerns a product’s appearance, including shape, lines, colour and surface features. Compare novelty and individual character before filing. Features dictated solely by technical function are a different issue and are not protected merely because they appear in a photograph.

Decision case: new packaging has both a different shape and closing mechanism, and its catalogue is already published. Separate appearance from technical function and preserve the first disclosure’s date and source. Compare overall impression with earlier products and select whole or partial design representations. Examine the Turkish exception and target-country conditions separately. Commercial novelty alone is not a conclusion of legal novelty.

Design protection conditions

Design protection depends on novelty and individual character, considering the informed user’s overall impression and the designer’s freedom. Compare dated earlier appearances. Mere novelty in a product name does not establish a protectable appearance.

Registered and unregistered designs

In Türkiye, registered designs begin with five years, renewable up to twenty-five; unregistered protection concerns qualifying first disclosure in Türkiye and lasts three years. Preserve disclosure evidence. These routes have different scope and proof issues and are not substitutes for every foreign filing.

Design: twelve-month disclosure exception

For Turkish design protection, examine the twelve-month disclosure exception against the actual disclosure date, person and circumstances. Retain dated catalogues and launch records. Do not treat this exception as a safe worldwide filing strategy; other countries can apply different rules.

Partial design protection

For a partial design, identify the visible part claimed and clearly distinguish the remainder. Make all views consistent with that choice and verify local representation practice. Ambiguous broken lines can be interpreted as decoration instead of excluded matter.

Preliminary design search

Search earlier design publications, product catalogues and dated market disclosures. Compare visible features and overall impressions rather than only product names. A database search with no matching result does not guarantee novelty or individual character.

Applying for a design

Before a Turkish design filing, identify applicant and designer, prepare coherent reproductions, select the product classification and examine disclosure/priority dates. Submit through ePATS and keep the official receipt. A quote request to a consultancy is not the official application.

Official filing and support

This guidance concerns Turkish rights unless a section expressly names another jurisdiction. Kayra can coordinate research, document preparation and follow-up. Registration, opposition and grant decisions belong to the competent office. Verify any required representative’s registration and authority before appointing them; court proceedings require appropriately qualified legal representation. The enquiry form requests consultancy, and does not itself file an official application.