Trademark Refusals by Turkish Patent Office
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Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) reviews each trademark
application, and if it concludes that the application has the
characteristics needed to be a trademark i.e. if it distinguishes
the goods or services of a given business from the goods or services
of another business, does not look like a trademark already
registered or for which a registration application is pending, does
not state type, choice, nature, quality, quantity, purpose, value
and geographical source, is not a sign used by everybody in
commercial activities, does not contain a religious value or symbol,
and is not contrary to the public order and general morality, TPI
will decide to publish the application in the Official Trademark
Bulletin.
If a trademark application is refused by TPI’s one of trademark examiners after such review, the applicant is entitled to appeal the said refusal by filing an appeal petition to the Re-Evaluation and Examination Board (REEB) of TPI within 2 months from the date on which the said refusal has been notified to the applicant. If the applicant does not use this right within 2 months, its application will be canceled and its right to appeal will be revoked.
If TPI approves that a trademark application meets the criteria described above, it will be published in the Official Trademark Bulletin, so that it will be made available to the public for review.
In this case a trademark application will be published for 3 months. During this period of 3 months, real persons, legal entities and professional associations will be entitled to file an opposition before TPI to object a trademark application on the grounds that they already own it, a trademark application is similar to their own trademark, or the trademark application breaches a copyright, etc., provided that documents proving such allegation must be enclosed to such letter of objection.
Such opposition and the documents enclosed thereto will be sent to the applicant or its attorney in order to enable them to prepare an answer. The applicant or its attorney must present its answer to Turkish Patent Institute within 1 month after receiving the above mentioned opposition.
Both the opposition and its evidence documents and the answer given to it will be reviewed by the Re-Evaluation and Examination Board (REEB) of TPI, so that REEB will decide either “application will proceed” or “application will partially proceed” or “application canceled”.
Our patent & trademark attorneys are licensed to practice before Turkish Patent Institute to represent our clients' all types of intellectual property rights; including applications, registrations, and oppositions. Our IP litigation attorneys render patentability and patent, trademark, and copyright infringement opinions; litigate to protect intellectual property; handle arbitration, mediation, and other litigation alternatives; and negotiate licenses, franchising, and similar business transactions to maximize the value of such property.
