The exception of equivalent parts in design law

Exclusive rights acquired through design rights in some stiuations result in market limitation or monopoly power in the market. One of these cases is the protection of must match part designs. Must match parts can be defined as parts that must be designed in a certain way so that the complex product can regain its original appearance. These parts may only be replaced with spare parts that are visually identical to the original part. Complex products, which are used different part design from the original, are not preferred by consumers due to the deterioration of their original appearance. Therefore, the protection of must match part designs means the protection of the product itself and results in the design owner gaining a monopoly on the product. So the consumer, who has no freedom of choice in matters such as price, quality and materials, is depentdent on the manufacturer of complex product in order not to deterioration of original appearance of product. Another disadvantage of protection must match part designs is that the supplier industry cannot produce these parts during the protection period. Today, most products which are used are complex product. When considering that the most changed parts of complex products are must match, it is understood that the issue has importance that can affect the countries economies. Turkey is a country with a highly developed supplier industry. Therefore, the protection of must match part designs serves to protect the interests of foreign manufacturer companies. Because, due to protection, the Turkish supplier industry cannot produce alternatives for must match parts. Because of these consequences of the protection to must match part designs, the protection to these part designs must be limited provided certain conditions are met. In the study, after examining in depth the reasons behind the intoroduction of different legal regulation for these part designs, in force regulations in the Turkish law for these part designs have been critically examined by taking into account comparative law.