KÜHEYLAN HUKUK
Industrial Design Registration and Infringement of Design Right: Registered and Unregistered Design Protection Within the scope of the Industrial Property Law No. 6769, innovation and distinctiveness, twelve-month tolerance period, registration and objection process, three-year protection of unregistered design and legal remedies against imitation. This guide has been updated as of 2026, based on the Industrial Property Law No. 6769 and the jurisprudence of the 11th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals.
The appearance of a product is often the first factor that determines a consumer's purchase decision and is the most easily imitated value. The Industrial Property Law protects the appearance of the product as design, arising from its features such as line, shape, color, material and texture. While a registered design provides broad protection for up to twenty-five years, unregistered designs are protected only against copying for three years if they are presented to the public for the first time in Türkiye. In this guide, the protection conditions of the design, the principle of absolute novelty, the twelve-month tolerance period, the TÜRKPATENT application and objection process, the differences between registered and unregistered designs, and the legal remedies to be applied in case of imitation are explained together with the 2024-2026 decisions of the Supreme Court.
1. What is Design, What Does It Protect?
Design is the appearance of the whole or a part of the product or the decoration on it resulting from features such as line, shape, form, color, material or surface texture (SMK article 55/1). The product concept is broad; Industrially or manually produced objects, as well as packaging, parts of composite products, graphic symbols, display interfaces and typographic characters, can also benefit from design protection. Computer programs are not included in this concept (Art.55/2).
Design protection protects the appearance of the product, not its technical function. The appearance features required by the technical function of the product and the features that must be produced in a certain shape and size in order to be mechanically connected to another product are excluded from protection (Article 58/4). Protection of the technical solution is the subject of a patent or utility model. The design can also be protected by copyright if it meets the work conditions in FSEK (Art. 58/3). According to TURKPATENT data, 40,258 domestic design applications were made in 2025.
A design is considered new if the same design has not been made available to the public anywhere in the world before the application or priority date; Designs that differ only in minor details are considered the same (Art. 56/4). Distinctiveness means that the general impression left by the design on the informed user is different from the general impression left by designs previously presented to the public (Article 56/5). In this evaluation, the designer's degree of freedom of choice is taken into account; Even small differences can provide distinctiveness in areas where design options are limited (Art. 56/6).
The 11th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals emphasizes that the principle of absolute novelty is valid in design law, that this condition is related to public order and that the expert is obliged to investigate previous designs on his own (11th HD, 09.12.2024, E.2024/1088, K.2024/8791). In a decision dated 2026, the Department stated that a design published in the bulletin will be deemed to have been presented to the public at the latest on the date of publication, that the previous design that eliminates the innovation does not need to be registered, and that the subsequent invalidation of this previous design will not change the fact that it has been presented to the public (11. HD, 29.04.2026, E.2025/5032, K.2026/2434). Twelve-Month Tolerance Period: The presentation of the design to the public by the designer, his successor or a third party with their permission within twelve months before the application or priority date does not affect novelty and distinctiveness (SMK article 57/2). This period provides significant flexibility for businesses that want to test the product in the market first and then make a registration decision. A disclosure made to a third party under the condition of confidentiality is not considered a public disclosure (Article 57/1).
The birth of conservation Application and registration to TURKPATENT The design was presented to the public for the first time in Türkiye
Protection period 5 years from application; Up to 25 years with 5-year renewals 3 years from the date of first public presentation
Scope of protection Against all designs that leave a similar general impression against identical or indistinguishably similar designs made by mere copying.
Independent creation defense As a rule, it does not change the result Independently created design is not considered a copy
For unregistered design protection, the design must be presented to the public for the first time in Türkiye (SMK article 55/4). In a file examined by the Supreme Court of Appeals, after it was determined through expert review that products giving the same general impression had previously been shared on social media accounts abroad, it was accepted that unregistered design protection could not be applied since the condition of being presented to the public for the first time in Türkiye was not met (Court of Appeals decision regarding the file: 11. HD, 24.03.2026, E.2025/4589, K. 2026/1622). The short duration and narrow scope of unregistered protection often make registration mandatory for designs with commercial value.
Application; It includes the identity information of the applicant, the visual expression that reflects the appearance of the design and is suitable for publication, the name of the product on which the design is applied and the names of the designers (SMK article 61/1). Products are grouped according to the Locarno classification; Multiple designs for products in the same class can be collected in a single multiple application for an additional fee (Art.61/5-7). Protection begins from the date of finalization of the application date (Art. 64/3).
Institution review: TURKPATENT; It rejects applications that do not comply with the design definition, are found to be contrary to public order and are not new (Art. 64/6). Distinctiveness is mainly examined at the objection stage.
Postponement of publication: The applicant may request a publication postponement of up to thirty months along with the application (Art. 66). This opportunity is of strategic importance in industries where the design must remain secret until the product's launch date.
Objection of third parties: An objection may be made within three months from the publication of the registration on the grounds that the conditions of novelty and distinctiveness are not met, that the application is in bad faith or that it involves the unauthorized use of an intellectual property right (Art. 67/2). If the objection is accepted, the registration becomes invalid (Art. 68/5).
Objection to the decision: The applicant may object to the decisions of the Institution within two months from the notification (Art. 67/1).
In order to extend the protection period of the registered design, the renewal request must be made within six months before the end of the period; If this period is missed, it can be renewed for an additional fee within six months from the end of the period (Art. 69/4).
It is a violation of the design right to produce, put on the market, sell, import or possess for commercial purposes the same or indistinguishably similar product to which the protected design is applied, without the permission of the design owner (SMK Article 81/1). The absence of a registration record on the product or invoice does not prevent the act from being infringement (Art. 81/3). Right holder; may claim detection, suspension, seizure, compensation and precautionary measures in the intellectual and industrial property civil court (Art. 149-151, Art. 159).
Unlike the trademark right, the SMK does not impose a criminal sanction for infringement of the design right; Protection is provided through law. The defendant may file a lawsuit for invalidity by claiming that the design is not new or distinctive (Art. 77); The decision of invalidity has retroactive effect (Art. 79). The right of previous use of the person who independently develops the design and starts using it in good faith before the application date is reserved (Art. 60). The use of visible parts of composite products for repair purposes and without misleading the source is not considered a violation three years after the design is first placed on the market (Article 59/4).
A furniture manufacturer operating in Bursa introduced its new chair collection at a fair in Istanbul in January 2026, but did not apply for registration. In May 2026, a competitor was seen offering nearly identical chairs in the collection at a lower price on its website. The competitor claims that his team developed the designs.
Since the design was first presented to the public at a fair in Türkiye, it benefits from unregistered design protection until January 2029 (SMK article 69/2). However, this protection is only against copying; The manufacturer must prove that the competitor had access to the designs after the fair and that the products are copies (Article 59/2). Fair attendance records, promotional images and information about the competitor's fair visit are the basis of this proof. The manufacturer may also extend the protection for up to twenty-five years by applying for registration within the tolerance period of twelve months from the first public offering, that is, until January 2027 (Art. 57/2, Art. 69/1). The application must be made immediately, regardless of unregistered protection, and the request for an injunction to stop sales must be considered.
Can a design be registered after putting the product on sale?
Yes, if the application is made within twelve months from the first public offering, the sale does not affect novelty and distinctiveness (SMK article 57/2). An application made after this period does not meet the novelty requirement due to the product itself.
Does design registration provide protection abroad?
No. Protection is national. Applications can be made in other countries with the right of priority within six months from the first application (Art. 62); International application is also possible within the scope of the Hague Agreement.
Can packaging or logo design also be registered?
Yes. Packaging and graphic symbols are included in the product description (article 55/2). The registration of the logo as a trademark should also be evaluated separately in terms of its source indicating function. My competitor registered a similar design. What can I do? An objection may be made to TURKPATENT within three months from the publication of the registration (Art. 67/2). If this period has passed, a lawsuit for invalidity may be filed in court on the grounds of novelty, distinctiveness or entitlement (Art. 77-78).
Will the person who imitates my registered design be punished?
There is no penalty provision in the SMK for infringement of design rights. If the imitation product also bears a registered trademark, the crime of trademark infringement may be brought to the fore, and if the design is a work of art, the criminal provisions in FSEK may also come to the fore.
Delaying the application after the fair or social media post: When the twelve month period passes, the design loses its novelty due to its own explanation.
Relying on non-proprietary protection: Three-year and only copy protection is insufficient for products of high commercial value.
Preparing the visual expression carelessly: The scope of protection is determined according to the visual expression; missing angles and unclear drawings narrow the protection.
Taking technical features as basis: Appearance features required by the function are not preserved; The source of distinctiveness should be aesthetic preferences.
Missing the renewal period: A design right that is not renewed ends on the date of expiration of the protection period (Art. 69/6).
Design protection secures the investment in the appearance of the product; however, this protection is highly dependent on timing. The twelve-month period running from first public offering, the three-year limited protection of an unregistered design, and the three-month opposition period after registration require that the design strategy be planned in conjunction with the product development schedule.
Küheylan Law Firm; It provides holistic legal support to manufacturers, design studios and e-commerce businesses in design registration strategy, publication postponement and multiple application planning, objection and invalidation processes, and detection, injunction and compensation cases against counterfeit products.
Important Legal Notice: This guide has been prepared by Küheylan Law Firm for general information purposes and does not constitute a legal opinion. Since legislation and judicial precedents may vary, a file-specific legal evaluation must be made before deciding on concrete disputes. Person names and numbers in the case studies are representative.
KÜHEYLAN HUKUK