Determining the position of Turkey in the field of information technologies through analysis of international patent databases

Technology is rapidly advancing every day, and businesses that seek to keep up with this pace struggle to make the most profitable and suitable technological investment decisions. They engage in different sources of research to observe strategies implemented by other companies and to follow new innovative ideas. Additionally, staying updated on emerging technologies provides businesses with an opportunity to prepare for the next technological advancements. In this context, patent documents serve as important tools for companies to understand the next strategies of their competitors, anticipate concrete steps to be taken, and develop their own strategies. Patent documents contain technological information that guides companies in maintaining a competitive edge against their rivals and determining the direction of their internal efforts. Furthermore, the fact that technical details, which include know-how, are not explicitly disclosed in patents holds great importance in terms of developing strategies against products or services developed by competitors based on patents. In the 1980s, during the digital convergence process, text, sound, and visual data began to be processed through computers in digital media. Concurrently, with the digitalization of telecommunication systems, the sharing of digital data and information became more feasible, leading to the integration of information technology and communication technology. The terms 'information' and 'communication' are used together to indicate this connection. The rapid transmission of information has directly influenced the development of technology and has led to the emergence of new technologies in every field today. To adapt to the rapidly changing and evolving technologies in the industry, businesses are renewing their processes accordingly, keeping pace with the transfer of information. Information and communication technologies are one of the rapidly advancing and important fields. While some of the outputs of this development positively impact the industry, systems that cannot keep up with change and transformation experience issues. Due to the innovation brought about by information and communication technologies, there has been a rapid increase in patent outputs. However, this increase in inventions has also led to the emergence of technological diversity in patents and the formation of diversity in patent classes that need to be protected, resulting in the emergence of new technologies. The lack of suitable patent classes for these new technologies has led to a series of challenges and problems. The reasons and effects of this are as follows: Firstly, rapid technological progress leads to the inability of existing patent classes to encompass new technologies and makes classification more difficult. Secondly, information and communication technologies often involve the combination of multiple disciplines, which challenges the limitations of existing classification systems. Thirdly, legal uncertainty arises from the lack of sufficient infrastructure by patent offices and legal systems to understand and classify new technologies. Lastly, there is a challenge in promoting creativity when it is necessary to align existing classes with new technologies. In this thesis, patent classes that will correspond to emerging technologies have been proposed, aiming to adapt the existing classes to innovative technologies that are emerging. The need for access to information has accelerated the development of technology. The fact that information triggers new technologies has led to the formation of competitors in the market and the production of similar products by another competitor. In order to prevent this, intellectual rights have emerged to provide strong product protection. Thus, it has led to the development of a system in which the technical innovations for a newly developed product are protected, and the usurpation or use of the rights of the invention by the competitors is possible with a license. Initiation of technical protection is granted to the inventor after an application is made to the patent offices. Increasing patent applications over the years has led to the need for classification of technologies. In order to keep up with the developing technologies, a patent class to which each patent application will belong must be determined by the patent office and defined for the application. The patent right provides a right as a document used to prevent the right of third parties to produce and use the product of the invention, which is put forward by the inventor. Today, rapidly developing technologies have great effects on the business world, economy and societies. While the innovations created by these technologies enable the development of new products and services, the protection of intellectual property has also become an important issue. Patents are used as an important tool in terms of protecting inventions and providing economic returns to inventors. In today's world where technology and innovation are developing rapidly, patent documents are among the most important sources where technical information is stored. As it is known, the patent right is the monopoly right legally granted to the owners of the innovations, namely inventions, which have a technical aspect, for a certain period of time. The role of the patent system in economic and technological growth is gaining more importance day by day. This situation is conducive to the continuous expansion of the technical information contained in the patent documents. The availability and use of this information will encourage our development and progress in many ways. Patent applications are shaped according to the intellectual property laws of each country. Many internationally important patent offices such as the European Patent Office (EPO), the World Intellectual Property Rights Office (WIPO) and the Turkish Patent Office (TÜRKPATENT) have put forward the patent classification system in order to categorize the inventions within the appropriate class in the face of developing technologies. Through these classes, it is decided by the patent offices after the application in which technology field the patents will be included and shared with the inventors. However, the inadequacy of patent classes in the face of developing technologies emerges as a serious problem. Patent classes are systems in which inventions are divided into certain categories and determine the scope of protection. Traditional patent classes can make it difficult to correctly classify new technologies, complex inventions or digital innovations, which can reduce the effectiveness of patent protection. Therefore, the shortage of patent classes can cause difficulties in protecting different technologies and hinder innovation. Patent application criteria are the standards that determine whether patent applications are accepted or not. These criteria are usually based on factors such as novelty, industrial applicability, explainability, technical efficiency. However, patent application criteria may differ by country, region or industry and can be a complex process for applicants. In addition, legal regulations, technological changes and differences in international patent systems may affect patent application criteria. At the same time, patent application criteria are also an important factor used to determine the patentability of inventions. These criteria are based on standards such as that inventions are innovative, industrially applicable and explainable. However, patent application criteria may differ in different countries and may affect patent systems. This may affect international patent applications and complicate innovation processes. The examination of patent application criteria with the AHP method is based on the reasons in the literature. Factors such as complexity and uncertainty, differences between different countries and sectors, the development of patent systems, and guidance for policy makers and researchers support the use of the AHP method as a valuable tool in the analysis of patent application criteria. The AHP method can be used to reduce complexity, identify differences, improve systems, and guide policy makers and researchers. This study examines the inadequacy of patent classes in the face of developing technologies, the analysis of patent application criteria with the AHP method and the effects of the factors affecting the patent application criteria on G20 countries within the framework of their effects in Turkey. This work is important to understand the current challenges and shortcomings of patent systems, to support innovation, and to strengthen the protection of new technologies. At the same time, it aims to make the acceptance processes of patent applications more understandable and effective by analyzing the social and economic criteria affecting the patent application by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. As a contribution of this study, a new categorization proposal has been presented to meet the need for patent classification in the evolving field of information and communication technologies. This categorization proposal identified emerging technologies through a literature review and aimed to introduce a new classification system to the literature. Thus, it will greatly support inventors by ensuring that their newly developed inventions have a corresponding category in patent classes. Another output of the study is the investigation of social and economic factors influencing patent applications, which were separately examined and analyzed in the literature. With this study, both social and economic factors have been integrated under a single framework, enabling countries/companies/inventors to review these factors before patent application and contribute to the maturation of their inventions. The relationship between the G20 countries and the number of patent applications, as well as the relationship between Turkey and the patent application numbers of the G20 countries, has been examined within the framework of factors influencing patent applications and has been documented in the literature.