Article 181
Article 30 of the Law no. 5000 has been amended as follows:
“ARTICLE 30- As regards the industrial property rights and traditional product names, the natural persons or legal entities with the authority to provide consultancy and perform on behalf of the applicants operations before the Office shall be the patent attorneys for patent, utility model and integrated circuit topography topics; the trademark attorneys for trademarks, geographical signs and traditional product names; and both patent attorneys and trademark attorneys for designs.
The natural persons shall satisfy the following conditions to become a patent attorney or trademark attorney:
a) Being a citizen of the Republic of Turkey.
b) Having capacity to act.
c) Having graduated from a higher education institution providing at least four years of undergraduate education or higher education institutions abroad whose equivalency to the former have been recognized by relevant authorities.
d) Not having being sentenced for an intentional crime against the security of the
State with imprisonment of five years or more or even if pardoned and even if the periods stated at Article 53 of the Turkish Criminal Code no. 5237 of 26/9/2004 have expired, crimes against Constitutional order and the functioning thereof, embezzlement, extortion, bribery, theft, swindling, fraud, abuse of trust, fraudulent bankruptcy, collusive tendering, scheming in acquisition, laundering of assets from crimes or smuggling.
e) Having domicile in Turkey.
f) Having successfully passed patent attorney or trademark attorney examinations.
It is obligatory that the legal entity patent attorney or trademark attorney be founded as a limited liability or incorporated company as per the laws of the Republic of Turkey; the operation subject covers the activity of patent attorney or trademark attorney, and is represented by natural person patent attorney or trademark attorney. Even if the natural person attorney is the partner or employee of multiple legal entity attorneys, he may use the attorney authority to represent only one legal entity attorney. The persons that use their attorney authority in this manner may not act as a natural person attorney. The natural person attorney, without prejudice to his own personal criminal liability, shall be jointly and severally responsible against the proxy giver together with the represented legal entity attorney.
The patent attorney and trademark attorney examinations are held once every two years by the resolution of the Management Board. Only the ones satisfying the conditions at paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of the second paragraph shall be admitted to the examination.
It is obligatory for the ones successful in the patent attorney or trademark attorney examinations to be registered in the Patent Attorneys Registry to act as a patent attorney and at Trademark Attorneys Registry to act as a trademark attorney. The period and amount of the occupational liability insurance that needs to be made at initial registration and registration renewals shall be determined by the Management Board.
The procedure and rules related to the examination and registry processes for patent attorneys and trademark attorneys, and other matters related to patent attorneys and trademark attorneys shall be determined with a regulation.