Country ranks 14th in resident patent applications, 8th in trademark, 6th in design, industry and technology minister says
Turkey saw a remarkable rise in domestic applications of patent, trademark, and design in the first quarter of this year despite the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s industry and technology minister said Monday.
“Domestic patent applications have increased by 28%, trademark applications have increased by 47% and design applications have increased by 15% year-on-year in January-March,” Mustafa Varank told a virtual meeting on World Intellectual Property Day.
This significant progress has been achieved by the enormous investment in human capital and R&D facilities under our administrations, Varank said.
Noting that Turkey has made substantial progress in the field of IP in recent years, the minister said the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TurkPatent) has become one of the top offices that deal with the highest numbers of patent, trademark, and design applications.
“Turkey ranks 14th in resident patent applications, eighth in trademark applications, and sixth in design applications,” the tech minister said, citing the World Intellectual Property Indicators Report.
In 2020, the number of international patent applications increased 20 times compared to 2002, he noted.
“Turkey has managed to take the tenth place in international trademark and design applications.”
Monday’s meeting on Enhancing the Quality of Intellectual Property Management in SMEs (small-and-medium-sized enterprises) aims to address how national IP offices and international organizations can take active roles in supporting SMEs, he said.
SMEs do not often enjoy the benefits of their own value-added products, he said, citing a recent study conducted by the European Patent Office (EPO) and European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) which suggested that only 9% of SMEs have registered IP rights, compared with 40% of larger companies.
He added that another study by EUIPO has shown that SMEs that own registered IPRs have almost 32% higher revenue per employee than SMEs that do not own registered IPRs at all, which he said highlighted the economic value of intellectual property protection.