Patentability under Turkish Patent Law According to the Decree Law No. 551 on the Protection of Patent Rights

The Decree Law numbered 551 and dated June 24 1995 on the Protection of Patent Rights (the Decree-Law) aims at protecting the inventions by granting patents. Not all inventions but some which have specific qualifications are patentable. Although the term “invention” is not defined by the Decree-Law, the patentability requirements are prescribed by the Decree-Law between the articles 5 and 10. According to the Decree-Law, inventions which are novel, applicable in the industry and within the scope of patentable inventions are patentable. Novelty refers being new and surpassing the State of Art. Being applicable in the industry refers that an invention is produced or used in any field of the industry including agriculture. These are the positive requirements of patentability. Both requirements are essential but not enough for an invention granting a patent protection. The last and the negative requirement of patentability is that inventions as of their natures, should remain outside the scope of non-patentable inventions which are listed in the Art. 6 of the Decree-Law. All requirement are obliged to be met for an invention to be granted a patent protection. However, since the number of patent applications are really low in Turkey, all the competent authorities must make reformatory alterations and take some innovative and incentive measures in this regard, including amending a new Patent Code instead of regulating these issues with a Decree-Law, even though the provisions of this Decree-Law regarding patentability are in conformity with the international legislation and international tendencies.