Appearance Protection

Industrial
Design Registration

The shape, form and pattern of your product can be copied by your competitors. Design registration records that appearance in the TÜRKPATENT register under your own name.

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Protection for up to 25 years in five-year terms
Multiple designs in the same class in a single application
A 12-month grace period for designs already on the market
The right scope through Locarno classification
17+ Years of Experience TÜRKPATENT Authorized Attorney GDPR/KVKK Compliant Digital Client Portal
In short: What Is Design Registration?

Design registration is an industrial property right that protects, before TÜRKPATENT, the appearance of a product resulting from features such as its lines, shape, colour, texture and material. Under Article 56 of Industrial Property Law No. 6769 the design must be new and have individual character to be registered. Protection runs from the filing date in renewable five-year terms for a maximum of 25 years. If you have already disclosed your design to the public, you have a 12-month grace period in which to file.

What Is Protected?

A Trademark Shows Whose It Is,
A Design Protects How It Looks

In everyday speech every registration is called a "patent"; in law, however, separate rights protect separate things. Choosing the wrong type of application does not just waste fees — it leaves you unprotected.

Trademark
Protects distinctive signs such as names, logos and slogans. Can be maintained indefinitely by renewing every 10 years.
Patent
Protects an invention that provides a technical solution to a technical problem. Lasts 20 years in Türkiye and cannot be renewed.
Design
Protects the external appearance of the product. Lasts up to 25 years in five-year terms.
Utility Model
Faster and more economical protection with no inventive-step requirement. Lasts 10 years and cannot be extended.
Read How the Four Rights Differ

Products That Can Be Registered as Designs

Furniture silhouettes and shapes
Packaging and bottle shapes
Textile and surface patterns
Jewellery and accessory designs
Lighting products
Footwear and bag shapes
Toys and household goods
Graphical interfaces and icon sets
Almost any industrial or handicraft product with a distinguishable appearance can be the subject of a design registration. We assess whether your design qualifies free of charge.
Process

How Is a Design Registered?

We run the entire process end to end, from filing through to the renewal calendar.

1
Preliminary Design Assessment
Your design images are examined for novelty and individual character. If the design has already been disclosed to the public, whether the 12-month grace period has expired is checked at the very first step.
2
Locarno Classification
Your design is classified according to the international Locarno Classification used for industrial designs. If you have several designs falling in the same class, a multiple-application plan is drawn up.
3
Preparing the Application File
Images are prepared in line with TÜRKPATENT's technical requirements, and the file is compiled so that every view defining the scope of protection is included.
4
TÜRKPATENT Filing and Follow-up
The application is filed before TÜRKPATENT and every notification during the process is monitored; you are informed of any deficiency notice or opposition.
5
Registration and Renewal Calendar
After registration your protection term is recorded in your customer panel, and automatic reminders are sent as each five-year renewal period approaches.
Who Is It For?

If How Your Product Looks
Is Your Competitive Advantage

Manufacturers
Use registration to stop products you invested in tooling and shaping from being copied.
Packaging and Food Brands
A bottle, box or packaging shape often becomes as recognisable as the brand itself.
Designers and Studios
Record the patterns and shapes in your portfolio in the register under your own name.
Digital Product Teams
Graphical interfaces and icon sets can also be the subject of a design registration.
If your design is already on the market, the clock is running
A 12-month grace period is granted for filing after public disclosure. Once it expires the design is no longer considered new and registration is no longer possible.
Assess My Design
Related Services

All of Your Intellectual Property
On a Single Platform

Patent Registration
Protect the technical function of the product, not its appearance.
Learn More
Trademark Registration
Protect your product name and logo.
Learn More
International Trademark Registration
Protect your brand in your export markets.
Learn More
Legal Protection
Opposition and litigation support if your design is copied.
Learn More
See All Services
FAQ

Frequently Asked
Questions

Ask us anything you want to know about design registration.

Talk to an Expert

Design registration is an industrial property right that legally protects the appearance of a product resulting from features such as its lines, shape, colour, texture and material. A trademark protects whose product it is and a patent protects how it works, while a design registration protects how it looks.

A patent protects an invention that provides a technical solution to a technical problem and requires an inventive step. Design registration protects not the technical function but the external appearance of the product. Both can be obtained for the same product: the mechanism by patent, the appearance by design.

Under Article 56 of Industrial Property Law No. 6769, a design can be registered only if it is new and has individual character. Novelty means the identical design has not been disclosed to the public before; individual character means the overall impression it produces on an informed user differs from that of earlier designs.

The legislation provides a 12-month grace period: an application can be filed within that time after the design has been disclosed to the public. If the deadline is missed the design is no longer considered new and registration becomes impossible. That is why filing without delay matters for designs already on the market.

Registered designs are protected for a maximum of 25 years by being renewed in five-year terms from the filing date. If the renewal request is not submitted on time, protection ends; for Webx clients renewal periods are flagged through the panel.

The Locarno Classification is the international system that groups industrial designs by product type. It does for designs what the Nice classification does for trademarks: it determines the product group in which your application will provide protection.

Yes. Several designs falling within the same Locarno class can be registered under one application (a multiple application). For companies that want to protect every variation in a product family, this is an advantage in both process and cost.

Almost any industrial or handicraft product with a distinguishable appearance: furniture silhouettes, packaging and bottle shapes, textile patterns, jewellery, lighting products, toys, footwear shapes and graphical interfaces or icon sets can all be registered as designs.

If your logo indicates commercial origin, trademark registration is the right protection; a trademark can be renewed every 10 years and maintained indefinitely. A design registration lasts a maximum of 25 years. For graphic elements the two can also be combined; which one takes priority depends on how you intend to use it.

No. Like trademarks, design rights are territorial; a TÜRKPATENT registration protects you only in Türkiye. For protection abroad you need to file separately in the target countries, and if you have an export plan this should be planned together with your Turkish application.

The fee depends on the number of designs, whether a multiple application is used and the Locarno class coverage; TÜRKPATENT official fees are also a separate item from the service fee. Once we have reviewed your designs we send you a clear, itemised quote.

Yes. If the novelty or individual character requirement is found not to be met, the application can be refused; third parties may also oppose the registration. Webx gives no guarantee of outcome for any application — this is stated explicitly in our service agreement. What we do is measure the risk before filing and report it to you transparently.

The images define the scope of protection, so you need to supply every relevant view of the product in sharp, high-resolution form against a plain background. Missing or low-quality images can lead to a deficiency notice or a narrow scope of protection.

Unregistered designs can benefit from limited protections that are harder to prove; in an infringement, however, the burden of proving your right falls entirely on you. Registration documents your right in the official register and makes mechanisms such as infringement action and seizure at customs workable.

Where your registered design right is infringed, the available routes include a formal warning letter, claims to stop the infringement and for damages, and seizure at customs. Our Legal Protection team runs these processes.
The protection terms and registrability conditions on this page are based on Industrial Property Law No. 6769. Official fees are updated annually by TÜRKPATENT; the current amount is provided to you after a free preliminary assessment. Design Registration Service Agreement
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Trademark or Patent? The Differences Between Design and Utility Model Protection
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