Unregistered Design Protection in Turkey: 3-Year Rights Under Code 6769
- Feb 9
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 11
Under Turkish IP Code numbered 6769 (“Code 6769”), design protection in Turkey is provided in two ways: registered and unregistered. While registration offers the strongest protection in many industries, such as fashion, clothing, accessories, furniture, home textiles, and packaging, operate at such a high speed that traditional registration for every single product is often not practical or cost-effective.
For these fast-paced sectors, the Turkish IP law provides an automatic "safety net" through Unregistered Design Protection. This ensures that original creations are protected from the moment they are presented to the public, without the need for a formal application.
General Overview: Requirements and Duration
Unregistered designs in Turkey benefit from the protection of Code 6769, but they must meet specific legal criteria to be valid:
First Disclosure in Turkey: To benefit from unregistered protection, the design must have been presented to the public for the first time in Turkey. If a design is first disclosed in the US, EU, or China, it cannot later claim unregistered protection in Turkey.
Protection Period: The duration of protection for unregistered designs is 3 years, starting from the date the design was first made available to the public in Turkey.
Novelty and Individual Character: Just like registered designs, an unregistered design must be new and possess individual character at the time of its first disclosure.
For more details on these criteria, you may review our articles: "Design Registration in Turkey: Procedure, Requirements & Strategy" and "Design Registration Oppositions and Responses in Turkey: A Strategic Guide."
The Scope of Protection: Registered vs. Unregistered
The rights of an unregistered design owner are more limited than those of a registered design owner. While Article 59/1 of Code 6769 gives registered owners broad rights to prevent third parties from producing, selling, or importing the design without consent, Article 59/2 limits these rights for unregistered designs:
"Unregistered design gives the right owner the right to prevent [infringement] only in case copies of identical designs or in respect of overall impression copies of indistinguishably similar designs are used."
Furthermore, the law protects independent creation. Accordingly, a design by an independent designer not being able to know through reasonable ways that the protected design is presented to the public prior to his/her design, shall not be deemed to have copied the design in the scope of the protection.
In short, unregistered protection only prevents direct copying or the use of indistinguishably similar designs. It cannot be used against a third party who creates a similar design independently without knowing about the prior unregistered design.
Infringement
Unregistered designs are protected against infringement just like registered designs. If a competitor copies the unregistered design, the owner has the authority to institute legal proceedings. However, the burden is on the owner to prove that the design was first disclosed in Turkey and that the competitor actually copied the design rather than creating it independently.
Why Unregistered Protection is Vital for the Fashion Sector
For our clients in the fashion and textile industries, we understand that you may produce hundreds of new sketches and items per season. Registering every single SKU is often impossible. Unregistered protection serves as your primary defense by:
Providing Immediate Coverage: You are protected from the day of your runway show or catalog launch in Turkey.
Saving Costs: You can focus your registration budget only on "hero products" or "classics" that will stay in your collection for more than three years.
Acting as a Deterrent: It allows you to send cease-and-desist letters to fast-fashion imitators who release direct copies of your latest work.
To maximize this protection, we advise our clients to keep rigorous records of their first disclosure in Turkey (dated social media posts, time-stamped factory orders, or exhibition catalogs).
Conclusion
Unregistered design protection is an essential tool for the modern, fast-moving Turkish market. It offers a balanced approach for creators who need speed and flexibility without losing their intellectual property rights.
At Goklu Law & IP Firm, we assist both domestic and international clients in enforcing their unregistered design rights and managing infringement risks. Whether you are seeking to stop an imitator or defending against a claim of copying, we provide expert guidance under Code 6769.
For detailed information or legal assistance regarding your designs in Turkey, please contact us at info@goklulaw.com.
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