Applications for the registration of a design are to be filed with and dealt with by the Turkish Patent Institute. Examination as to form and as to whether the subject-matter applied for can be registered as a design. If not at least an application on prescribed form, a representation of the design and evidence of payment of the required fees have been filed, applicant will be given one month to file same as yet, and the filing date will be the date when all said documents have been filed. In case of other deficiencies applicant shall remedy the same within two months, failing which the application will be refused. If no deficiencies are found or if the deficiencies have been timely remedied, the design be entered in the Register of Designs. The design will then be published in the Official Bulletin of Industrial Designs; following details are to be mentioned in the publication: number and date of filing, number and date of registration, and (where claimed) priority date, country and number; name and address of the owner of the registration and of the designer(s) of the design; a representation of the design showing all its specific features; indication of class and list of goods in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied. As from publication the file will be open to public inspection.

On filing the application for registration applicant may request deferment of publication for max. 30 months from the filing date. In such case a mention of the deferment will be published in the Bulletin, giving the name of the owner of the registration, the filing date of the application, the class of goods concerned and the period of deferment requested. An application in respect of which deferment of publication has been requested shall not be open to public inspection during the deferment period. At any time during the period of deferment applicant may request the publication of the design. After expiration of the deferment period (or earlier if so requested by applicant) the registered design will be published in the Bulletin and the file become open to public inspection, provided that the required publication fee(s) has (have) been paid and that, in case where with the original application a sample of the product in which the design is incorporated or to which the design is applied had been filed, a representation of the design fit for reproduction has been filed. If in case of deferment of publication the publication fee(s) has (have) not been paid and, where required, the representation not been filed before the end of the deferment period, the design registration shall be void ab initio. If in respect of a multiple design application deferment of publication has been requested, it is possible to pay the publication fee (and where required, to file the representation) only in respect of one or some of the designs of the application; in such case the registration shall be void in respect of the other designs. Legal proceedings based on a design registration during the period of deferment of publication can be brought only provided that the information relating to the design application contained in the Register and the file has been communicated to the person against whom the action is instituted.

The classification applicable in Turkey is the International Classification for Industrial Designs under the Locarno Agreement (Turkey is a party to the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs since November 30, 1998).

Within six months from publication of the registration of a design interested parties may file an opposition with the Turkish Patent Institute. In the notice of opposition the grounds must be clearly stated. The opposition will be examined by the Institute, and if found justified, the Institute will invalidate the design registration.