How to Register a Trademark in Turkey: What to Watch for at the Design Stage

In Turkey, trademark registration starts with an application to the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TÜRKPATENT) through its electronic filing system, EPATS. The Office first examines the application for formalities and registrability. If it passes, the Office publishes it in the Official Trademark Bulletin (Resmî Marka Bülteni), and it stays open to opposition for two months from publication. If there is no opposition, or if the Office rejects the oppositions, it enters the trademark in the register once you pay the registration fee. A registered trademark enjoys protection for ten years from the filing date, and you can renew it. The most critical part of the process, however, often happens before the application, while you design the name and logo.

Why is trademark registration necessary?

Under the Industrial Property Law (SMK, Law No. 6769), you acquire trademark protection through registration. A registered trademark gives its owner the right to use it for the goods and services it covers. It also lets the owner stop others from using it without permission.

According to the law, a trademark can consist of any sign, including personal names, words, figures, colors, letters, numbers, sounds and the shape of goods or their packaging, as long as it distinguishes one business's goods or services from those of others. In other words, you can register not only your company name but also your logo as a trademark.

Imagine you invest for years in an unregistered name and then find out that someone else owns the same or a similar trademark. As a result, you may have to replace all your signage, packaging, website and advertising materials.

Trademark registration in Turkey, step by step

1. Searching for similar trademarks

Before you file, check whether someone has already registered or applied for the same or a similar trademark for the same or similar goods and services. TÜRKPATENT's website has a search screen for this. There, you can search a trademark name with the "contains," "starts with" or "equals" options and by class.

This preliminary search should cover not just identical names but also names that are similar in pronunciation, spelling or meaning. Because assessing similarity is a technical matter, working with a trademark attorney on a thorough search reduces the risks.

2. Choosing the goods and services classes

In the application, you state which goods and services the trademark will protect. For this, Turkey uses the international Nice Classification. It consists of 45 classes: classes 1–34 cover goods and classes 35–45 cover services.

Points to keep in mind:

• Protection applies only to the goods and services you select in the application. Think about areas you plan to enter in the future, too.
• The application fee depends on the number of classes you choose. Unnecessary classes raise the cost; missing classes narrow your protection.
• For class searches, TÜRKPATENT recommends WIPO's goods and services tool (MGS) and EUIPO's TMclass tool; both allow searches in Turkish.
• Under the law, goods in the same class are not automatically similar. Likewise, goods in different classes are not automatically dissimilar.

3. Preparing the trademark specimen

You attach a specimen of the sign you want to register (the trademark specimen) to the application. Each application may cover only one trademark. If you have a logo, the final version you file must be a clear, clean image produced from vector artwork. We explained why in our post on the difference between vector and raster images.

Whether you register only the word, only the logo, or both separately is a strategic decision that affects the scope of protection. We recommend making this decision together with a trademark attorney.

4. Filing via EPATS

You file through TÜRKPATENT's electronic filing system, EPATS, by logging in with a Turkish ID number and e-Government (e-Devlet) password. If you are filing on behalf of a company, the company must first authorize the person filing. You do this through a "Legal Entity Representative Notification Request" in EPATS.

Under the law, the application must include the applicant's identification details, the trademark specimen and the list of goods and services. It must also include proof of payment of the application fee. For fee amounts, see the current trademark fees table on the Office's website.

If the application has no formal deficiencies, the Office fixes its filing date as the date, hour and minute it received it. This date decides priority between identical or similar trademarks. Therefore, don't delay filing once you have completed your search.

5. Examination

TÜRKPATENT first examines the application for formalities. If something is missing, the applicant has two months to fix it.

Next, the Office examines the application against the absolute grounds for refusal listed in the law. These include, for example:

• Signs that lack distinctive character,
• Signs consisting solely or essentially of terms that describe the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, geographical origin or another characteristic of the goods,
• Signs that are identical or indistinguishably similar to a trademark already registered or applied for in respect of the same or the same type of goods and services,
• Signs that would mislead the public about matters such as the nature or geographical origin of the goods.

6. Publication in the Bulletin and the opposition period

When an application passes examination, the Office publishes it in the Official Trademark Bulletin. Within two months of publication, interested parties who object to the registration can file a reasoned opposition. For example, a business that already holds rights to a similar trademark can oppose on the grounds of likelihood of confusion. If someone files an opposition, the Office asks the applicant for a response and then evaluates the opposition.

The same applies to your own trademark: monitoring the Bulletin for new applications similar to yours and opposing in time when needed is part of protecting your brand.

7. Registration fee and entry in the register

Suppose the opposition period passes with no opposition, or the oppositions are finally rejected. In that case, you pay the registration fee on time and report the payment to the Office. The Office then enters the trademark in the register and publishes the registration in the Bulletin. However, if you don't pay and report the fee on time, the Office withdraws the application from processing.

8. Protection term, renewal and use

• Protection term: Ten years from the filing date. You renew it in ten-year periods.
• Renewal: You must make the renewal request and pay the fee within the six months before the protection term expires. If you miss this window, renewal is still possible with an additional fee within six months after expiry.
• Use requirement: Some trademarks go unused. If the owner, without a valid reason, has not put the trademark to genuine use in Turkey within five years of registration, or has suspended its use for five uninterrupted years, it can be revoked on request. Since 10 January 2024, the authority to revoke has moved from the courts to TÜRKPATENT.

What to watch for at the design stage

Many of the problems in trademark registration begin the moment you choose a name and logo. During the design process, consider these points together:

Choose a distinctive name

Names that directly describe the product or service, such as "Quality Furniture" or "Fast Cargo," may seem memorable, but they carry a high risk of running into the absolute grounds for refusal in the law. From a registration standpoint, strong trademarks are usually distinctive names that don't describe the product directly.

Design the logo after the search

Searching the name before starting work on the logo keeps a design you love from ending up in the bin. The Office also assesses the logo for similarity on its own. For example, symbols widely used in your industry (a tooth for a dentist, a roof for real estate) may not provide distinctiveness by themselves.

Pay attention to originality

A logo derived from ready-made icon sets, stock images or someone else's work can cause problems at registration and afterward. Under the law, if a trademark application contains someone else's copyright or intellectual property right, the Office refuses it when the right holder opposes.

Get the logo rights transferred in writing

If a designer or agency created your logo, document that they assigned the economic rights to the design to you. The Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (FSEK, Law No. 5846) requires contracts on economic rights to be in writing. It also requires them to list the transferred rights one by one.

Build the identity system around the registered version

There shouldn't be major differences between the logo you register and the logo you use in practice. Defining the logo's color, horizontal/vertical and single-color versions within a corporate identity system makes consistent use easier.

Check the domain name and social media handles too

When deciding on a name, also check whether a domain name and social media usernames are available under the same name. You can find details on choosing a domain in our post what is a domain name. Owning a domain name doesn't give you trademark rights, and registering a trademark doesn't reserve the domain for you. They are separate processes.

Common mistakes

• Searching after you have already invested. Running into a problem after you print the signage and packaging is the most expensive scenario.
• Checking only identical names. Similarity also covers pronunciation and meaning.
• Choosing too few classes, or unnecessarily broad ones.
• Missing the registration fee or the renewal date. The legal deadlines should go into your calendar.
• Registering and then not using the trademark. A trademark unused for five years becomes open to revocation requests.
• Not getting written documentation of the logo rights.

Our experience

Artsution is a registered trademark (®); we went through the process described in this post for our own brand. That is why, in our brand and identity projects, we advise clients to run a preliminary search, and to consult a trademark attorney if needed, before we start work on the name and logo. In logo design, we avoid common industry symbols and solutions derived from ready-made images. Instead, we draw the logo as vector artwork and deliver clean files you can use in the application. We also set out the transfer of the design's economic rights in writing in the contract. The application itself and the legal assessment are the job of a trademark attorney or lawyer; we handle the design side of the process.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Trademark registration in Turkey is a process made up of a search, choosing the right classes, filing via EPATS, examination, publication in the Bulletin with a two-month opposition period, and the registration fee. Yet you often secure its success before the application: a distinctive name, an original logo, design files with rights transferred in writing, and a consistent identity system. When you consider why brand identity matters, these steps are the foundation for protecting the investment you make in your brand.

Preparing your name and logo for registration

If you'd like to develop a name and logo suitable for registration, or prepare your existing logo for the registration process, take a look at our brand and corporate identity service, see our packaging and print design page for packaging and label applications, or get in touch with us.