With some 192,950 trademarks registrations last year, the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) has been ranked fourth in the world. According to The World Intellectual Property Indicators released by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) last year, the number of trademarks registered in Turkey over the past five years has approached 800,000.TPI ranked Turkey fourth worldwide after the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO), European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In the said period, SIPO registered 2,232,863 trademarks followed by EUIPO with 321,165 and USPTO with 306,504 trademarks.While Turkey ranked 8th last year with 227,273 trademark applications, the highest number of applications were made in China with 2,828,287 followed by the USA with 517,297 applications. Germany ranked first in trademark applications made by non-residents in Turkey with 6,157 applications, followed by the U.S. with 4,887 and Switzerland with 2,328 applications. In this period applications to TPI were placed mostly in the agriculture, service, research and technology sectors.'Turkey securing fourth place is vital'Uğur Yalçıner, the president of the Association of Patent and Trademark Attorneys (PEM), told Anadolu Agency that the number of people applying for trademark registrations is increasing each year.Noting that the share of non-residents applying for trademark registrations in Turkey increased from 68.5 percent in 2011 to 82.3 percent last year, Yalçıner said this ratio was very important. "The fact that TPI was 4th worldwide, regarding the number of trademark registrations, underscores the importance given to branding in Turkey," Yalçıner said. "It is time and cost-effective in comparison to patent registration makes trademark registration especially important in developing countries like Turkey," he added.Recalling that some countries, including China, prefer to make trademark registrations on the basis of goods while some accept separate applications for each class of goods, Yalçıner stressed that it was very important that Turkey, which accepts a as many as 45 classes with a single application, ranked fourth in the world.Trademark attorneys should be institutionalizedYalçıner suggested that the desired level of understanding in Turkey in the issues of trademarks, patents and utility models has not been achieved yet. He highlighted that it was now prerequisite that the association of patent and trademark attorneys be institutionalized to improve that situation and for the disciplinary provisions to be applied to raise awareness in this matter.Yalçıner said while the number of applications for industrial property rights is increasing, it was necessary to have sufficient and qualified attorneys to serve as a proxy. He added that the Industrial Property Draft Law, which is expected to come into force soon, included disciplinary provisions, but not any provision regarding patent, trademark and institutional structuring. Pointing out that trademark attorneys do not have any institutions in Turkey like bars, Yalçıner said these shortcomings were being solved in a superficial way through associations, but was not enough.According to Yalçıner, the state has serious incentives for R&D, design, product development and patent applications; however, fewer brands are emerging in sectors with high-added value such as health research and technology, mostly because of the length of product development processes and high costs.