Is unregistered design protection enough?

Registered design. Protection lasts five years from the filing date and can be extended by renewal for successive five-year periods up to a total of 25 years (Industrial Property Law No. 6769 (SMK), Art. 69). The owner of a registered design can prevent unauthorised use of the design regardless of whether it has been copied.

Unregistered design. It is protected for three years from the date on which it was first made available to the public in Türkiye. This protection applies only against copying: if the other party shows that it developed the design independently, the protection does not apply. In addition, the burden of proving the date of first disclosure to the public lies with you.

Grace period. Disclosure of the design to the public by its owner does not destroy novelty if it took place within the 12 months preceding the application. In other words, an application for registration can still be filed within a certain period after the product has been placed on the market.

Conclusion. For short-lived seasonal products, unregistered protection may sometimes be sufficient; however, for products that will be sold for a long time and carry a high risk of imitation, registration provides a much stronger basis.