A startup’s brand exists the moment it is used; its legal protection exists only where it is registered. Under Article 7(1) of the Industrial Property Law No. 6769 (SMK), trade mark protection in Türkiye is acquired by registration with the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TÜRKPATENT), and a registered mark gives its owner the right to stop identical and confusingly similar signs for identical and similar goods and services (Article 7(2)). Unregistered use gives only the weaker protections of unfair competition and, for well-known marks, Article 6. For a founder the questions are practical: what to file, in which classes, when to add the EU and the United States, how to use the Madrid Protocol without falling into its central-attack trap, and how to keep the registration alive once the company has it. This article answers them in the order a company meets them, from the pre-incorporation name check to the five-year use requirement. It also corrects the most common mistake we see in Turkish cap tables: a mark registered in a founder’s personal name and never assigned.
Before you file: the clearance search and the founder’s name
Article 6(1) refuses, on opposition, an application that is identical or similar to an earlier registered or applied-for mark for identical or similar goods or services where there is a likelihood of confusion. A clearance search of the TÜRKPATENT register, the EUIPO and WIPO databases and the USPTO record is therefore the first step, and it should be done before the domain is bought and the company name is registered at the trade registry, because Article 6(6) also protects an earlier trade name and other prior rights against a later mark. Startups routinely file the mark in the founder’s own name because the company does not exist yet. That is lawful, but the mark must then be assigned to the company by a written contract that is valid only if notarised, and the assignment must be recorded in the register to bind good-faith third parties (Article 148(4)–(5)); until then the company is trading under a mark it does not own, an issue we covered in getting IP into the company. Filing in the company’s name immediately after incorporation, with a priority claim if a founder filed earlier abroad, avoids the extra step.
What can be registered, and what will be refused
Article 4 allows any sign capable of distinguishing one undertaking’s goods or services from another’s and of being represented in the register clearly and precisely, including words, shapes, colours, letters, numerals, sounds and the shape of goods or packaging. Article 5 lists the absolute grounds of refusal that TÜRKPATENT examines of its own motion: signs that cannot be marks, signs devoid of distinctive character, signs that exclusively or as their essential element describe the kind, quality, purpose, value, geographical origin or other characteristics of the goods or services, signs identical or indistinguishably similar to an earlier mark for the same goods, and others. The practical lesson for startup naming is Article 5(1)(c): a name that describes what the product does (“QuickInvoice” for invoicing software) is weak or unregistrable, and the more the marketing team likes it for that reason, the more the trade mark lawyer dislikes it. Coined or arbitrary words register easily and protect broadly. Article 6 adds the relative grounds raised by opposition: earlier marks, agent’s unauthorised filing, unregistered prior rights, well-known marks, and bad faith (Article 6(9)), the last being the tool against squatters who register a startup’s name after seeing its launch.
Classes: what a software company actually needs
Marks are registered for goods and services classified under the Nice Classification, forty-five classes with goods in 1 to 34 and services in 35 to 45, each class carrying its own fee. A SaaS company’s core is Class 42 (software as a service, platform as a service, software design and development), Class 9 (downloadable software and mobile applications, if any are distributed) and Class 35 (advertising, business management and, for marketplaces, retail services); Class 38 covers telecommunications and messaging services, Class 41 education and digital content, Class 36 financial services for a fintech, Class 44 medical services for a health-tech. Two disciplines apply. Register in the classes where the mark will actually be used within five years, because Article 9(1) makes a mark liable to cancellation for the goods and services on which it has not been put to genuine use in Türkiye within five years of registration, or whose use has been suspended for five years, and since 10 January 2024 that cancellation is an administrative procedure before TÜRKPATENT under Article 26 rather than a court action. And specify the goods and services precisely rather than claiming the whole class heading; a narrow, accurate specification is cheaper to defend and harder to attack.
The Turkish procedure and its timeline
An application under Article 11 contains the applicant’s details, the representation of the mark, the list of goods and services and proof of payment, and may claim priority from an earlier application in a Paris Convention or WTO country made within the preceding six months (Article 12). TÜRKPATENT examines formalities (Article 15) and absolute grounds (Article 16), then publishes the application in the Official Trademark Bulletin. Interested persons may oppose within two months of publication on absolute or relative grounds (Article 18), and anyone may file observations on absolute grounds (Article 17); the applicant responds and, if the opponent’s mark has been registered for at least five years at the application’s filing or priority date, may require proof of its genuine use. Decisions can be appealed within two months to the Re-examination and Evaluation Board (Article 20), whose decisions can be challenged by an annulment action before the specialised IP courts in Ankara. An unopposed application typically registers within about a year; oppositions add several months to a year. Protection runs for ten years from the filing date and is renewable indefinitely in ten-year periods on request in the six months before expiry (Article 23).
Going abroad: national filings, the EU and Madrid
A Turkish registration protects only in Türkiye. Three routes exist for the rest of the world. National filings in each country are the most flexible and the most expensive. The EU trade mark, filed at the EUIPO, covers all 27 Member States in one registration and is the natural second filing for a company selling into Europe. And the Madrid Protocol, to which Türkiye acceded with effect from 1 January 1999 and which Article 14 of the SMK implements, lets the owner of a Turkish application or registration file one international application through TÜRKPATENT designating any of the Protocol’s members, which together cover more than 130 countries, including the EU, the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Japan; each designated office examines the designation under its own law within its statutory period, and the international registration is renewed centrally at WIPO. Two limits matter. For five years the international registration depends on the Turkish base mark: if the base is refused, withdrawn or cancelled in that period, the designations fall with it (“central attack”), although they can be transformed into national applications within three months at national fees. And the international application must have the same owner and a specification no broader than the base, so a narrow Turkish filing limits the foreign filings too. For a company that will raise from US investors, a direct USPTO filing alongside the Madrid designation is common, because US examination of use and specification is strict and a direct application is easier to amend.
Keeping the mark alive and useful
Use it as registered: Article 9(2) accepts use in a form that does not alter the distinctive character and use on goods solely for export, but a rebrand that changes the mark’s distinctive character starts a new five-year clock only for the new mark, which should be filed. Record every change: assignments under Article 148 and licences under Article 24 are recorded in the register, and an unrecorded licensee may have difficulty enforcing. Watch the register: TÜRKPATENT’s opposition window is two months, and a watch service that flags similar filings is cheap insurance against dilution. Use the ® symbol only for registered marks and in the countries of registration. And when the company flips up, decide deliberately whether the mark moves to the parent, which then licenses it back to the Turkish subsidiary under a recorded licence, or stays in Türkiye; the tax and group-law consequences are the ones we set out in transferring IP to a foreign parent.
Do we need a trade mark attorney to file in Türkiye?
A Turkish-resident applicant may file directly through TÜRKPATENT’s online system. Foreign applicants must act through a registered Turkish trade mark attorney. In practice a search and a properly drafted specification are where an attorney earns the fee.
Can we register the mark in our app’s icon and colour?
Yes. Word marks give the broadest protection and should come first; a figurative mark for the logo and, where colour is distinctive and represented precisely, a colour claim can follow. Register the word and the logo separately rather than only as a combined mark, so that a logo redesign does not weaken the word protection.
A competitor registered our name first. What now?
If the filing was made in bad faith, knowing of your earlier use, Article 6(9) supports an opposition within the two-month window or, after registration, an invalidity action under Article 25. If your earlier use is documented and the mark has acquired recognition, Article 6(3) on unregistered prior rights adds a second ground. Evidence of first use, dated, is the asset; keep it from day one.
Related: trade mark · know-how · getting IP into the company.
Sources. Industrial Property Law No. 6769 (Articles 4–7, 9, 11–12, 14–18, 20, 23–26, 148); WIPO, Madrid System; Turkish Patent and Trademark Office. Statute links open the official Turkish texts on mevzuat.gov.tr.
This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Please seek legal support for an assessment of any specific matter.
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