Trademarks may consist of any signs like words, including personal names, figures, colors, letters, numbers, sounds and the shape of goods or their packaging, provided that such signs are capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings and being represented on the register in a manner to determine the clear and precise subject matter of the protection afforded to its proprietor.
FAQ
The applicant can request an amendment of typographical errors or other filing particulars which do not substantially change the application.
Natural or legal entities or their successors in title who are nationals of one of the states that are party to Paris Convention or Agreement Establishing World Trade Organization or those who are domiciled or has an active commercial enterprise therein although they are not nationals thereof, shall enjoy priority right for applying in Turkey within six months following the date of application they duly filed, for a trademark registration of the identical trademark and identical goods or services to competent authorities, in one of those states within the scope of the provisions of Paris Convention. Priority rights which are not used within this period shall be forfeited. It is mandatory to get a document of priority right from the competent authority of the state to which the first application was filed in order to enjoy the priority right.
The priority document can be filed with the application or can be later filed within three months from the filing date of the application in Turkey.
TURK PATENT conducts formalities examination, the classification examination, and the absolute ground examination including prior right search. The processing time from initial filing to the registration is approx. 6 to 8 months
a) Signs which may not be trademark according to law;
b) Signs which are devoid of any distinctive character;
c) Signs which consist exclusively or includes as an essential element of signs or indications which serve in trade to designate the kind, type, characteristics, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, or the time of production of goods or of rendering of the services or other characteristics of goods or services,
ç) Signs which are identical to or indistinguishably similar to a trademark, which has been registered or which has been applied for registration, relating to identical goods and services or to goods and services of the identical type,
d) Signs which consist exclusively or includes as an essential element of signs or indications used by everyone in the trade area or which serves to distinguish members of a particular professional, vocational or commercial group from others.
e) Signs which consist exclusively of the shape or another characteristic which results from the nature of the goods themselves or the shape or other characteristics which is mandatory to obtain a technical result or gives substantial value to the goods;
f) Signs which would deceive the public, for instance, as to the nature, quality or geographical origin of the goods or service;
g) Signs which shall be refused pursuant to Article 6ter of the Paris Convention; ğ) Signs other than those covered by Article 6ter of the Paris Convention but which are of public interest, and which contain historical, cultural values, and emblems, badges or escutcheons for which the consent of the competent authority has not been given,
h) Signs that contain religious values or symbols; ı) Signs which are contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality;
i) Signs which consist of a registered geographical sign or which contain a registered geographical sign.
The validity period of a trademark registration is ten years counted from the date of application.
(1) If, within a period of five years following the date of registration, the trademark has not been put to genuine use in Turkey by the trademark proprietor in connection with the goods or services in respect of which it is registered, or if such use has 5 been suspended during an uninterrupted period of five years, the trademark shall be revoked, unless there are proper reasons for non-use.
(2) The cases set out below shall also be deemed as use of trademark within the meaning of the first paragraph:
a) Use of the trademark with different elements which do not alter the distinctive character of the mark;
b) Use of the trade mark on goods or on the packaging solely for export purposes.
(3) Use of the trademark with the consent of the trademark proprietor shall be deemed to constitute use by the trademark proprietor
In Turkey recording a license is not compulsory.
The opposition period is two months counted from the date of publication in the trademark gazette. The opposition deadline cannot be extended.
The power of attorney is no longer required but TURK PATENT has the right to request at its own discretion.
It depends on what aspects of the trademark you would like to protect. If we want to protect a word element or a certain shape without specific colors, we should apply it in black and White to be able to protect it in all possible shapes and colors.
Design shall be the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, the line, contour, colour, shape, material or texture of the product itself or its ornamentation. A design shall be protected as a registered design in case it is registered in accordance with the provisions of Industrial Property Law and a design shall be protected as non-registered design in case it is presented to the public ort he first time in Turkey.
Design shall be protected by Industrial Property Law provided that it is new and has an individual character
The registration can be renewed every 5 years (up to 25 years in total) starting from the application date.
The registration demand for multiple designs can be made as multiple applications provided that additional application fee shall be paid. In multiple applications, except for the ornamentation, each product design is used for and applied to, shall be of the same class.
Third parties may object in writing to the issuing of registration certificate within three months from the publication date.
The designer may request his name to be kept secret.
Geographical indication is the sign indicating a product that has become associated with a locality, area, region or country where it originates due to an apparent characteristic, its reputation or other features.
Names that are not considered as appellation of origin or designation of origin but are proven to have been traditionally used in the relevant market for at least thirty years to describe the product and fulfil at least one of the following conditions, shall be identified as traditional specialty guaranteed:
a) Originating from traditional method of production or processing or traditional composition.
b) Produced with traditional raw material or ingredients.