Recent access block to non-party oppositions in accordance with Turkish Personal Data Protection Law

Until recently, as a general practice at the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, all information and documents related to oppositions and counterviews were publicly available.

As of September 2020, in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Law 6698, the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office has changed its practice and no longer grants public access to opposition petitions and their exhibits on the grounds that such documents may contain personal information and details about applicants and/or opponents.

Now, entities that are not party to the proceedings will only be able to view basic information on the opposition (eg, opponent name, opposition date and grounds for the opposition) on the office’s web interface.

Accordingly, since only those that are party to the proceedings are allowed to access opposition petitions and their exhibits, applicants are required to appoint a local Turkish representative for Turkish designations of their international registrations to examine all relevant documents.

Failing to appoint a local Turkish representative for a Turkish designation of an international registration before the office will also pose a serious problem in cases where applicants decide to file their counterviews and/or raise a non-use defence against an opposition. In order to proceed with these actions, the new e-filing system at the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office requires the barcode number of the opponent’s petition, which will only be available to the local Turkish representative if they are appointed for the relevant international registration. 

Under these circumstances, it is highly recommended to appoint a local representative for the Turkish designation of international registrations to ensure effective defence against a possible opposition.