Corporate & Commercial
Trademark Registration in Turkey for Foreign Companies
How foreign companies register a trademark in Turkey with TURKPATENT: filing steps, opposition, the Madrid route and protecting the mark after registration.
A trademark registered in your home country does not, by itself, give you registered rights in Turkey. Under the Industrial Property Code No. 6769 (Sınai Mülkiyet Kanunu, “SMK”), trademark protection is obtained by registration (Art. 7(1)), made either through a national application to TURKPATENT, the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, or through an international registration under the Madrid Protocol that covers Turkey. For a foreign company planning to sell, license or distribute in Turkey, the filing belongs at the start of the market-entry plan. This guide quotes no official fees: TURKPATENT sets and updates them, so check the current schedule when you file.
Key Takeaways
Registered rights in Turkey come from registration in Turkey (SMK Art. 7(1)); file before you launch, license or appoint a distributor.
Applicants domiciled abroad act before TURKPATENT only through a trademark or patent attorney entered in its register (Art. 160(1), (3)).
A first filing in a Paris Convention or WTO country opens a six-month priority window for the same mark and goods in Turkey (Art. 12(1)).
Oppositions are due within two months of the application's publication (Art. 18(1)); appeals against TURKPATENT decisions within two months of notification (Art. 20(2)).
Registration lasts ten years from the filing date, renewable in ten-year periods (Art. 23(1)); five years of non-use exposes the mark to revocation (Art. 9(1)).
The Legal Framework for Trademark Protection in Turkey
Turkey's intellectual property rules for trademarks sit in the SMK, adopted on 22 December 2016 and published in the Official Gazette on 10 January 2017, when most of its provisions entered into force (Art. 192(1)). It repealed the 1995 decree-laws on patents, designs, geographical indications and trademarks, including Decree-Law No. 556 (Art. 191(3)).
TURKPATENT and the Courts
TURKPATENT (“the Kurum”, Art. 2(1)(e)) examines applications, publishes them in its Bulletin and decides oppositions; appeals go to its internal Board, which gives the Office's final decision (Art. 21(1), (4)). Court actions against TURKPATENT decisions belong to the Ankara Intellectual and Industrial Property Civil Court (Art. 156(2)). Since January 2024 TURKPATENT also decides non-use revocation requests, because Article 26 entered into force seven years after the Code's publication (Art. 192(1)(a)). Invalidation remains a matter for the courts (Art. 25(1)).
Who Can Apply
Article 3 covers Turkish citizens, persons domiciled or doing business in Turkey, persons entitled under the Paris Convention or the WTO Agreement, and, on reciprocity, nationals of states protecting Turkish nationals. Applicants outside Article 3 are refused (Art. 15(4)).
What Can Be Registered as a Trademark?
Under Article 4, a trademark may consist of any sign, including words and personal names, figures, colours, letters, numbers, sounds and the shape of goods or their packaging, provided it distinguishes one undertaking's goods or services from others' and can be shown in the registry so that the subject of protection is clear and precise. Graphical representation is not a condition. Article 5(1) bars, among others, non-distinctive and descriptive signs, signs identical or indistinguishably similar to an earlier mark for the same or same-type goods, and misleading signs. A notarised consent from the earlier owner lifts the earlier-mark bar (Art. 5(3)), which helps where a group company already holds a similar Turkish mark.
First-to-File vs. First-to-Use
The earlier application generally prevails, but prior use is not irrelevant. An earlier right holder can oppose a later application based on an unregistered mark or other sign used in trade with rights acquired before the filing or priority date (Art. 6(3)), a mark well known under Article 6bis of the Paris Convention (Art. 6(4)), a filing by its commercial agent or representative without permission or justification (Art. 6(2)), or bad faith (Art. 6(9)); the same grounds support invalidation after registration (Art. 25(1)). Each route needs proof; filing before market entry avoids the dispute.
Step-by-Step: Registering a Trademark in Turkey as a Foreign Company
Step 1: Appoint a Registered Trademark Attorney
Persons domiciled abroad can be represented before TURKPATENT only by trademark or patent attorneys entered in its register, and a step taken directly by the applicant is treated as not taken (Art. 160(1), (3)). Once an attorney is appointed, every step goes through the attorney and notifications to the attorney count as made to the applicant (Art. 160(4)).
Step 2: Search Before You File
Search TURKPATENT's records for earlier marks that could ground an objection (Art. 5(1)(ç)) or an opposition (Art. 6(1)), and look beyond your own Nice classes: goods in the same class are not presumed similar, and goods in different classes are not presumed dissimilar (Art. 11(4)).
Step 3: File the Application
The application contains the form with the applicant's identity, a specimen of the mark, the list of goods or services and information showing that the fee is paid, plus a Latin-alphabet equivalent if the mark uses other letters (Art. 11(1)). One application covers one mark, classified under the Nice Agreement (Art. 11(2), (3)).
Step 4: Examination
TURKPATENT checks formalities first. A complete application takes the date, hour and minute of receipt as its filing date; otherwise the applicant has two months to remedy the deficiency (Art. 15(1)), and an application left uncured is removed from processing (Art. 15(3)). The Office then examines absolute grounds and may refuse some or all goods and services (Art. 16(1)).
Step 5: Publication and Opposition
An accepted application is published in the Bulletin (Art. 16(2)). After publication and until registration, anyone may file observations on absolute grounds other than the earlier-mark ground, without becoming a party (Art. 17(1)), and interested persons may file a written, reasoned opposition, paying its fee, within two months of publication (Art. 18). If an opposition under Article 6(1) relies on a mark that had been registered in Turkey for at least five years on the opposed application's filing or priority date, the applicant can demand proof of genuine use in Turkey in the five years before that date, or of proper reasons for non-use (Art. 19(2)).
Step 6: Appeal and Registration
A party harmed by a decision may appeal in writing, with reasons and the fee, within two months of notification; grounds cannot be added afterwards (Art. 20). Once every stage is complete and the registration fee information is submitted in time, the mark is registered, recorded and published; if not, the application is removed from processing (Art. 22(1)).
Priority Claims and the Madrid Route
Nationals of Paris Convention or WTO states, and persons domiciled or with an operating commercial establishment in one, enjoy priority for six months from a proper filing there, for the same mark and goods or services (Art. 12(1)). The claim is made with the Turkish application, and the priority certificate must follow within three months of the Turkish filing date, failing which the claim is treated as not made (Art. 13(1)).
Alternatively, an international application under the Madrid Protocol that covers Turkey has the same effects as a direct application to TURKPATENT and is deemed filed at the first hour and minute of the international application date (Art. 14(1)). Either way, answering an objection or opposition before TURKPATENT still requires a registered Turkish attorney (Art. 160(3)).
Options Against a Conflicting Turkish Filing
If someone else has filed or registered your brand in Turkey, the right tool depends on timing and evidence.
| Route | Who may use it | When | Decided by | Statutory basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Third-party observation | Anyone, without becoming a party; absolute grounds except Art. 5(1)(ç) | From publication until registration | TURKPATENT | Art. 17 |
| Opposition | Interested persons, on Art. 5 or Art. 6 grounds | Two months from publication | TURKPATENT, then its Board on appeal | Arts. 18 to 21 |
| Invalidation action | Persons with an interest, public prosecutors, relevant public bodies | After registration; barred for an owner who knew or should have known of the later mark's use and stayed silent for five consecutive years, unless the later registration was in bad faith | Court | Art. 25 |
| Claim against an agent or representative | The mark owner | Mark registered in the agent's name without permission or justified reason | Court: ban on use or transfer of the registration | Art. 10 |
| Revocation for non-use | Interested persons | No genuine use in Turkey within five years of registration, or use suspended for five uninterrupted years | TURKPATENT | Arts. 9 and 26 |
After Registration: Use, Renewal and Transfers
A mark not genuinely used in Turkey for its registered goods or services within five years of registration, without justified reason, or whose use has been suspended for five uninterrupted years, is revoked on request (Art. 9(1), 26(1)(a)). Use with the owner's consent, for example by a licensee or distributor, and use on goods or packaging solely for export both count (Art. 9(2)(b), (3)). Genuine use made after the five years but before a revocation request is filed defeats the request, except use in the three months before filing that was begun because a request was expected (Art. 26(4)).
Renewal must be requested, with the fee information, in the six months before protection expires; a further six months after expiry is available on payment of an additional fee (Art. 23(2)). Licences and assignments must be in writing, and an assignment agreement is valid only in notarised form (Art. 148(4)). Record them with TURKPATENT, because rights from an unrecorded transaction cannot be asserted against third parties acting in good faith (Art. 148(5)). This matters under any franchise or distribution agreement.
Enforcing a Turkish Trademark
Registration lets the owner stop unauthorised use of an identical sign for the registered goods, of an identical or similar sign for identical or similar goods where there is a likelihood of confusion, and, for a mark with a reputation in Turkey, of a sign that without due cause exploits or harms that reputation, whatever the goods (Art. 7(2)). That includes import, export, use as a trade name and online use as a domain name or keyword with commercial effect (Art. 7(3)).
In court, the owner can seek cessation, removal of the infringement, compensation for material and non-material loss, seizure of infringing goods and publication of the judgment (Art. 149(1)). A preliminary injunction is available on proof that infringing use is taking place in Turkey or that serious and effective preparations for it are under way, and may extend to seizure in customs areas and free zones (Art. 159(1), (2)). An owner with no domicile in Turkey sues at the place of business of the attorney recorded in the registry on the date the action is filed (Art. 156(4)).
At the border, customs suspends clearance of, or detains, infringing goods at the right holder's request; the holder must then produce a preliminary injunction within ten working days of notification, or three for perishable goods, extendable by up to ten working days for a justified reason (Customs Law No. 4458, Art. 57(1), (3)). Producing, selling, importing, exporting, holding or transporting goods, or providing services, in a way that infringes a mark by copying it or creating confusion with it carries one to three years' imprisonment and a judicial fine of up to twenty thousand days (Art. 30(1)), but only for marks registered in Turkey (Art. 30(5)), and prosecution depends on a complaint (Art. 30(6)).
Common questions about this topic
What Can Be Registered as a Trademark?
Words, logos, colours, sounds and product or packaging shapes can all qualify if the sign is distinctive and can be recorded clearly and precisely (SMK Art. 4). Purely descriptive or misleading signs are refused (Art. 5(1)).
Can a foreign company register a trademark in Turkey without a local office?
Yes. A foreign company covered by Article 3, for instance through Paris Convention or WTO rights, can file without a Turkish entity, but every step before TURKPATENT is taken by a registered trademark or patent attorney (Art. 160(3)).
How long does trademark registration take in Turkey?
The Code fixes stage deadlines, not a total duration: two months to cure formal defects, two months for oppositions and two months to appeal (Arts. 15, 18 and 20). Actual timing depends on examination and on whether anyone opposes, so file well before launch.
What are the official TURKPATENT trademark fees?
TURKPATENT sets its fees (Art. 2(1)(j)) and updates the schedule, so we quote no figures. Budget for an application fee that depends on the number of classes, a registration fee, and separate opposition or appeal fees if needed (Arts. 15(3), 18(2), 20(2) and 22(1)).
Should I file directly with TURKPATENT or use the Madrid Protocol?
Both lead to the same protection in Turkey, since a Madrid designation has the same effects as a national application (Art. 14(1)). Madrid tends to suit multi-country programmes; a national filing suits a Turkey-specific specification.
How long is a Turkish trademark valid, and can it be renewed?
Ten years from the filing date, renewable for further ten-year terms (Art. 23(1)). Renew in the last six months of the term; a six-month grace period with an extra fee follows expiry (Art. 23(2)).
What happens if someone infringes my trademark in Turkey?
You can sue for cessation, compensation and seizure (Art. 149), seek a preliminary injunction (Art. 159), ask customs to hold infringing shipments (Customs Law Art. 57) and file a criminal complaint, which requires a mark registered in Turkey (Art. 30(5)).
This guide is general information on Turkish law, not legal advice on your own matter. Rules and practice change; check the position before you act.