The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (‘office’) applies the Nice Classification for the classification of goods and services in the registration process of national and international trademarks. Undertakings try to avoid possible conflicts by, for example, restricting their trademarks to the area in which they operate and/or differentiating the goods and services within the scope of their trademark from those covered by earlier similar trademarks. In other words, undertakings aim to circumvent the trademark rights and fields of activity of others by ‘limiting’ the scope of their trademarks, so that they can prevent a likelihood of confusion and co-exist in the market, even if the signs are similar.

In a case, the Turkish Civil IP Court decided for the invalidation of a trademark registration identical to the plaintiff’s mark and trade name. The decision noted that: The plaintiff held a registration for the same class in the EU (but not in Turkey) before the trademark at issue; andThe plaintiff’s mark had a high distinctiveness and the defendant could not have created the mark on its own, coincidentally.In light of these points, the local court concluded that the defendant registered the mark intentionally to take unfair advantage of the well-known status of the plaintiff’s mark and was therefore in bad faith. Indeed, the defendant holds other trademarks that are well known in Turkey or have the potential to be well known in Turkey, which is also proof of the defendant’s bad faith.

In one year’s time, trade mark revocation proceedings will be possible before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TPTO). Güldeniz Doğan Alkan and Cansu Evren discuss the changes. Article 26 of the IP Code After years of proceeding with a Decree Law, the Intellectual Property Code no. 6769 entered into force in Turkey on 10 January 2017. Article 26 of the IP Code regulates the revocation of a trade mark registration. It foresees that the trade mark shall be revoked in the following conditions: