Compulsory licensing (CL) has been one of the most important
concepts in the new Turkish IP Law which entered into force in
2017. Although the concept is not new, the new Article 129, among
others, provides the following possible conditions for granting a
CL:
(i) failure to work or insufficient working that does not meet
the national market needs before the expiration of a period of four
years from the date of filing of the patent application or three
years from the date of publication of the grant of the patent (EPO
Bulletin), whichever period expires later;
(ii) for reasons of public interest.
After the Law came into force, the Turkish Patent and Trademark
Office published a list of patents for which no use declaration was
made within the time period referenced in (i). The list implied
that a CL opportunity may exist for those patents. A CL for reasons
of non-working or insufficient working must be demanded from an IP
court in Turkey. Even if the term
