Upon completion of the international phase of a PCT application, if the applicant of the international patent (or utility model) application seeks patent protection in Turkey, a national phase entry must be filed in Turkey. In this short article, we will be explaining the main rules of the PCT national phase for Turkey.
Deadline for National Phase Entries
Applications for national phase entries should be filed before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (“Office”) within 30 months from the priority date. However, it is possible to extend this period for an additional 3 months upon payment of an extension fee to the Office.
However, PCT applicants who fail to file national phase entries for Turkey within the prescribed time limit (30 months from the priority date or 33 months with an extension fee following the priority date) may file a request for the re-establishment of rights. PCT applicants may file such request within 2 months from the removal of the cause of non-compliance within the time limit, but no later than one year from the expiry of the unobserved time limit.[1]
Required Documents
Patent specification documents (i.e., description, claims, and drawings) can be submitted in Turkish or the official language of the states which are parties to the Paris Convention or the Agreement on Establishing the World Trade Organization or the countries performing the reciprocity principle within the application. However, the Turkish translations of these documents must be submitted to the Office within 2 months from the date of entry into the national phase.
Official Fees for National Phase Entries
The filing fee for a national phase entry under the PCT is TRY 5,898. If requested, the additional fee for an extension request for the national phase entry is TRY 2,989. Both fees should be paid at the national phase application stage.
Annual fees, which are due on the date of the national phase entry, should be paid to the Office. You may access the annual fees for each year from here.
The above fees are valid for the year 2024 and may be subject to an increase at the beginning of the forthcoming year.
Patent Attorney Requirement
Applicants, who reside outside of Turkey, must be represented by a Turkish patent attorney. However, submitting a power of attorney for a national phase entry in Turkey is not a requirement.
Examination Procedure Upon the Entry
Upon filing a national phase entry, the Office will initially review the filing along with the patent documents in terms of formal requirements. The respective review is usually completed and notified to the applicant within a month. If the Office identifies that the filing does not meet the formal requirements of the Office, the respective deficiencies must be corrected within two months from the date of notification (of the initial review).
If no deficiencies are determined in the initial Office review, the applicant must request an examination report (i.e., substantive examination report) from the Office within three months from the date of notification (of the initial review). The application is also published in the Official Patent Bulletin with the international search report.
After requesting the examination report from the Office, PCT applications entering into the national phase are processed as a national application filed in Turkey. The applicants can request an examination report from the Office up to three times (including the first one) until the grant.
[1] Detailed information on the re-establishment of patent rights in Turkey may be accessed here, in another one of our articles.
For further queries, please contact: Dogukan Berk Aksoy, LL.M. Attorney at Law | Trademark Attorney | Patent Attorney E: dogukan.aksoy@aksoy-ip.com T: +90 312 969 09 63