Aplicación legislativa de las flexibilidades - Türkiye

Título:	Articles 79, 93, 96-99, 101-103, 114 and 116 of the Decree-Law on the Protection of Patent Rights No. 551 of 27/06/1995 and Sections 39, 40 and 43 of the Implementing Regulations under Decree-Law No. 551 pertaining to the Protection of Patent Rights, including Amended Regulation of 06/12/1998
Campo de P.I.:	Patentes
Tipo de flexibilidad:	Licencias obligatorias y explotación por el Gobierno
Cuadro resumido:

Disposiciones legislativas

Dependency of subject matters of Patents

Article 79 :

The fact that a patented invention can not be worked without using an invention, protected under a prior patent shall not be an obstacle to its validity. In such cases, neither the right holder of the prior patent, nor the right holder of the latter patent may use, the patent of the other party, without his consent, during the term of validity of his patent. However, the right holder of the latter patent may use, also, the prior patent where he has been authorized by the right holder of the prior patent to use same or has been granted compulsory license to use said prior patent.

Abuse of Competition

Article 93 :

Where a patentee commits an act in violation of the general provisions on unfair competition while putting his patent (application) to use, the court may condemn the patentee to offer his patent for licensing.

Obligation to Work/Use

Article 96 :

The patentee or the person authorized by him is under obligation to put to use/work, the invention under patent protection. The obligation to put to use/work must be realized within three years as from the date of publication in the relevant bulletin of the announcement related to the issue of the patent.

Market conditions are (to be) taken into consideration when/for assessing use/working.

Evidence of Use

Article 97 :

The patentee or the person authorized by him shall prove his use of the invention by an official certificate to be filed before the Institute. The official certificate attesting the use of the patent shall be established according to the general criteria and rules foreseen in the Regulation by the authority designated therein.The certificate (of use) is issued at the conclusion of the inspection of the production in the industrial premises where the invention is being put to use/worked. The certificate (of use) shall confirm the fact that the patented invention is being implemented or that the (goods) object of the invention is offered for sale.The certificate (of use) must be prepared within three months as from the date of filing the relative application before the concerned authority. The certificate shall cover the data relative to the actual/effective use of the patented invention.The certificate of use is entered in the Patent Register.

Acceptance of Use

Article 98 :

When working of the patented invention is attested (before the Turkish Patent Institute) by documentary evidence, the patented invention shall be deemed to have been put to use in compliance of Article 97, unless proof to the contrary is brought through court action.

Requirements for granting Compulsory Licensee

Article 99 :

Compulsory license is (to be) granted where no offer for licensing offer has been made and where any one of the following situations/conditions materializes:

1. Failure to put to use/work the patented invention in accordance with Article 96;

2. Dependency of subject matter of patents as mentioned in Article 79.

3. On grounds of public interest as mentioned in Article 103.

Compulsory license in case of dependency between Patents

Article 101 :

Where the patented invention can not be put to use without infringing the rights conferred by a prior patent, the latter patentee, by bringing evidence that his patent, with reference to the prior patent will serve a different industrial purpose or achieves significant technical improvement, may request the court to grant license for using the patent of prior date.Where patented inventions, dependent in the sense of Article 79, serve the same industrial purpose and where a compulsory license has been granted in favour of one of the dependent patents, the patentee of the dependent patent upon which compulsory license is granted may request from the court that a compulsory license be granted in his favour on the other dependent patent.Where the subject matter of a patent concerns a process aiming to obtain a patented chemical product or substance related to pharmacology, and where said process patent achieves a significant technical improvement, with respect to the patent of prior date both the patentee of the process patent and the patentee of the product patent may request from the court the grant of compulsory license for using the patented invention of the other party.The scope of compulsory license granted for reasons of dependency between patents in the sense of Article 79, permits use of the concerned patented invention. In case when one of the dependent patents is invalidated or expires, the decision on compulsory license shall remain without effect.

Exportation as ground for Compulsory license

Article 102 :

The exportation (situation/possibility) of the patented invention shall not be accepted to constitute a ground for compulsory license.

Compulsory license on grounds of Public Interest

Article 103 :

The Council of Ministers may decide that the invention subject matter a patent or an application for patent be put to use on grounds of public interest by means of compulsory license where putting the invention to use, increasing its or, generally spreading, its usage or improving same for a useful end are of great importance for public health or national defense purposes, public interest shall be deemed to be involved.

Situations where the non use of the invention or its insufficient use in terms of quality and quantity, causes serious damage to the country's economic or technical development shall be deemed to also involve public interest.

The concerned Ministry proposes to the Council of Ministers to issue a decree pertaining to the grant of compulsory license. In case, where the use of the invention is important for national defense or public health, the proposal is prepared jointly by the concerned ministry, and the Ministry of National Defense or the Ministry of Health.The decision to grant compulsory license, may, restrict the use of the invention to one or some enterprises on grounds of its importance for national defense.In case when the patentee can realize to put the invention to use for public interest without having the need to generalize/spread the use thereof or to grant the use thereof to a person other than the patentee, the patented invention may be, conditionally, subjected to compulsory license. In such a situation, on the basis of the Decree of the Council of Ministers, the Court shall decide that the patentee shall put the invention to use for a period it will set, not longer than one year, in such a manner to sufficiently satisfy public interest, to develop/spread and enhance the actual use made of it.The court shall decide on the period it will deem appropriate or subject the patented invention to compulsory license after taking into consideration the viewpoint of the patentee. The court shall decide, whether use has been made of, in the public interest, or not, after the expiry of the period prescribed. Where the court rules that use had not been made of in the public interest, it shall subject the patented invention to compulsory license.

Legal nature of compulsory licensing

Article 114 :

Compulsory license shall not be exclusive. Only, the compulsory license on grounds of public interest according to Article 103, may be granted as an exclusive license. However, exclusivity shall not be contradictory to the purpose of compulsory license and must be necessary for economically valourising the invention under patent protection.In case a compulsory license is granted, the licensee has no right in principle to import the subject matter of the patent. However, the subject matter of the patent may be imported only when the compulsory license has been granted to the licensee on grounds of public interest and when the licensee has been specifically authorized to import. Such authorization to import shall be issued but on a temporary basis and shall be limited to meeting the demand.In case of a compulsory license the patentee shall be paid an economically reasonable fee. The license fee shall be determined especially by taking into consideration the economic importance of the invention.

Scope of compulsory license for Patent-of-Addition

Article 116 :

Compulsory license covers the addition(s) to the existing patent, at the date of the acceptance/grant of the license. Where after grant of compulsory license patent(s)-of-addition to the patent have newly issued and where such patent(s)-of-addition serve the same industrial purpose as the patent, subject of the license, the licensee may request from the court that the patent(s)-of-addition be also included within the scope of the compulsory license.Where despite the mediation of the Institute, the parties can not agree on the license fee and other terms/conditions of the license whose scope has been enlarged with the patent(s)-of-addition, these shall be determined by court.