Design is the appearance formed by various elements or features that can be perceived by human senses, such as line, shape, color, form, texture, flexibility or ornamentation of a product, of all or a part of a product.
In a free competition environment, competitors highlight the product image with brand and design in their advertisements to ensure customer satisfaction.
The design of the product plays a major role in customer preference between two products of the same technical quality. Sometimes, the design alone can be decisive in customer preferences.
It can be said that in general, customers make a purchase decision by first looking at the brand and then the design of the product.
In this sense, the aim of the design is to contribute to the functionality of the product and to help the marketing by changing the appearance of the product.
The packaging of the products, packaging patterns, fabric patterns, apparel models, furniture models, machine and vehicle designs, spare parts of vehicles can be protected by design registration.
In order for a design to be legally protected, it must contain the following elements.
A) Innovation
B) distinctive feature
C) The product or part of the product
D) Appearance that can be perceived by the human senses

Industrial Design Application Process

Design Process (Registration); Industrial design applications made to the Turkish Patent Institute are subject to formal examination by the Institute for a period of 2-3 months.

Shape Review

It is the examination of whether the documents required for the application are submitted during the application process, and if they are submitted, whether the relevant documents are of the quality clearly stated in the relevant articles specified in the regulation. If the formal design review process is positive, the design is announced to the attention of third parties for a period of 6 months that it will be registered. The designs that are not objected during this design announcement process are accepted as final by the Turkish Patent Institute approximately 9-10 months later and attached to the document.
In the case of design applications that are objected during the announcement (hanging) process, the Institute sends the design applicant a copy of the reason for the objection and the documents presented in this objection, what are the reasoned opinions, if any, and what are the proving documents, if any, within a 1-month response period. requests a response. Otherwise, it states that the decision will be made after being evaluated in line with the objections of the objection holders.
The objection is finalized by the Re-examination and Evaluation Board (YİDK). In case the objection is rejected, the Industrial Design Registration Certificate is issued and given to the applicant. If the objection is fully or partially accepted, the product design and/or designs in question are cancelled. Against this final decision, the parties can file an action for annulment of the decision within 2 months from the date of notification.

Protection Process for a Proprietary Design

The protection period for a registered industrial design is 5 years from the date of registration. This design process can be extended to a total of 25 years, provided that a renewal request is made in 5-year periods. After 25 years, the design is in the public domain and can be produced by anyone.
In the periods that fall after 5 years from the registration date; Renewal application can be made 6 months in advance as year, month and day. Design owners who miss this process are given an additional 6-month penalty period for design renewal. If this process is missed, the industrial design registration becomes invalid.