Trademark and patent registration in Türkiye
Filing, prosecution and enforcement at Turkpatent, handled end to end by a registered Turkish Trademark and Patent Attorney.
Written and kept current by Burak Unal, registered Turkish Trademark and Patent Attorney (Marka ve Patent Vekili, reg. 1677 and 2900) and licensed Real Estate Broker (Emlak Danışmanı, yetki belgesi 3408704) in Istanbul.
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Türkiye is a first to file country. Rights follow the application date, not the date a brand was first used in the market, so the practical question for most owners is not whether to register but how quickly the application can be on file and how well it is drafted when it lands.
I act for you before Turkpatent, the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, from the first availability search through to registration, renewal and any opposition along the way. You brief me once, in English, Turkish or Chinese, and receive the official correspondence back translated and explained, with a recommendation attached to every deadline.
What I file at Turkpatent
Four registrable rights sit under one office in Türkiye, and most portfolios need more than one of them. A product name and a logo are trademarks, the mechanism inside the product may be a patent or a utility model, and the shape and surface of it are an industrial design.
- Trademarks: word marks, figurative marks and combined marks, registered for ten years from the filing date and renewable in ten year periods without limit
- Patents: technical inventions, protected for up to twenty years from the filing date, with substantive examination and annual maintenance
- Utility models: incremental technical improvements, protected for ten years, with a faster and cheaper route than a patent where the invention qualifies
- Industrial designs: the appearance of a product, registered for five years and renewable up to a total of twenty five
Bringing a foreign brand into Türkiye
If you already hold a registration elsewhere, there are two routes into the Turkish register and they are not interchangeable. I look at where the portfolio is going over the next few years before recommending one, because the cheaper route on day one is not always the cheaper route at the first renewal.
- A national application filed directly at Turkpatent, which is faster to correct and stands independently of your home registration
- A Madrid System designation of Türkiye through WIPO, which is efficient across many countries at once but stays tied to the base mark for five years
- A clearance search before either route, so a conflicting earlier mark surfaces while the specification can still be redrawn
- Recordal of assignments, licences, mergers and address changes, which are what keep a register entry enforceable years later
How a filing runs
- 01
Search and scope
I run an availability search against the Turkish register, read the results against your actual commercial plan, and propose the classes and specification wording to file. This is where most of the value is added, and where a rushed filing costs the most later.
- 02
Filing
I file at Turkpatent as your appointed attorney. Applicants without a residence or commercial establishment in Türkiye must be represented by a registered Turkish attorney, so this is the step you cannot take from abroad on your own. You receive the application number the same day it issues.
- 03
Examination, publication and opposition
Turkpatent examines the application on absolute grounds and then publishes it in the official bulletin, which opens a two month window for third parties to oppose. If an opposition lands, I draft and file the response; if your own interests are threatened by somebody else's application, I file the opposition.
- 04
Registration, renewal and watch
On registration I send you the certificate and the renewal calendar. I hold the diary, prompt you ahead of each deadline, and handle renewals, assignments and recordals as your portfolio changes.
Questions about filing in Türkiye
Do I need to register a trademark in Türkiye if I already sell here?
Yes, in practice. Türkiye grants rights on a first to file basis, so an unregistered brand in use can be blocked by a later applicant who files first. Registration is what converts market presence into a right you can enforce, licence or assign.
What can be opposed, and how long do I have?
A trademark application is published in the official bulletin after examination, and third parties have two months from that publication to file an opposition. The same window is your own route to stop a conflicting application, which is why a watch on the bulletin is worth more than it costs.
Should I file nationally or through the Madrid System?
It depends on where else you are filing and how stable the home registration is. A single country need is usually cleaner as a national filing at Turkpatent; a portfolio going into several markets at once is usually cheaper through Madrid, at the cost of a five year dependency on the base mark. I give you the comparison in writing before anything is filed.
Official sources
Send me the mark, the invention or the design
A short message with what you want to protect and where you already hold rights is enough for me to come back with the route, the scope and a fixed quote, usually within one business day.
I usually respond within one business day.