A design is a vital intellectual property element that defines the visual features of a product and directly affects consumer perception. Under the Industrial Property Law No. 6769, design is defined as follows:
Article 55 – (1) A design is the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from features such as lines, contours, colors, shape, texture, or materials of the product or its ornamentation.
(2) A product means any industrially or manually produced article, excluding computer programs, including composite products and their parts, packaging, as well as the presentation of multiple articles, graphic symbols, and typographic characters.
(3) A composite product is a product made of multiple parts which can be disassembled and reassembled.
(4) Designs are protected as registered designs if registered under this Law, or as unregistered designs if made public for the first time in Turkey.
Designs may be protected either as registered or unregistered, provided they are new and possess distinctive character in terms of appearance. Registration grants exclusive rights to the owner and creates a strong legal basis to prevent unauthorized use. Unregistered designs enjoy protection for a limited period of 3 years from their first public disclosure. Hence, registering a design is crucial both for legal certainty and commercial value.
To qualify for legal protection under Law No. 6769, a design must fulfill the essential criteria of “novelty” and “individual character.” The legislator has made these two conditions mandatory for protection under Article 56(1), which states: “Designs shall be protected if they are new and possess individual character.” These concepts are explained below:
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Novelty means that the design has not been disclosed to the public anywhere in the world before the filing date (or priority date) for registered designs, and before the first public disclosure for unregistered designs (Art. 56/4). Designs differing only in minor details are considered identical, failing the novelty requirement.
For composite products, novelty is assessed only on parts visible during normal use, excluding maintenance, servicing, or repair (Art. 56/2-a and 3). The visible features of these parts must also satisfy novelty (Art. 56/2-b).
Individual character means the design creates a different overall impression on an informed user compared to previously disclosed designs. Per Article 56(5), the overall impression on the informed user must differ from any design made public before:
a) the filing or priority date for registered designs, and
b) the first public disclosure for unregistered designs.
The degree of creative freedom enjoyed by the designer in developing the design is also considered (Art. 56/6). In narrow design fields constrained by technical requirements, small differences may suffice to establish distinctiveness.
In summary, legal protection requires a design not only to possess an aesthetic appearance but also to be new and clearly distinguishable from prior public designs. Novelty and distinctiveness are indispensable for the validity and enforceability of design rights.
Registering a design secures the legal protection of its novel and distinctive visual features, granting the owner exclusive rights to prevent unauthorized manufacture, reproduction, marketing, importation, or use. This protection is especially valuable in sectors where originality and differentiation are competitive advantages.
Unregistered designs receive limited, shorter, and weaker protection. Proving ownership and infringement of unregistered designs before courts is considerably more difficult. Therefore, registered designs offer stronger, more effective protection and legal certainty in disputes.
Registration also enables economic transactions such as licensing, assignment, and pledging, recognizing the design as an economic asset. Thus, design registration is essential for strengthening intellectual property portfolios and supporting long-term business strategies.
Under Law No. 6769, the protection period for a registered design is five years from the application date. This period can be renewed in five-year increments up to a maximum total protection of 25 years. Renewal requests must be filed within six months before expiration, with a six-month grace period subject to a late fee.
If protection lapses or is not renewed, the design right expires and the design enters the public domain for free use. Hence, timely renewal is critical to maintain rights.
During the protection term, the owner may license, transfer, or pledge the design. These transactions must be recorded in the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office’s design registry to be enforceable against third parties.
Even if not commercially exploited, the registered design owner may enforce exclusive rights against third parties, making design registration both an economic and strategic competitive tool.
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