Mindset Mistakes Around Trademark Registration

The perception of Registration of trademarks in Turkey is quite different from abroad. For example, “covering whole goods in class” is so common. The main reason for this is that proof of use is not a compulsory procedure to keep the Registration live. In the US or the UK, for example, you cannot register a trademark and relief. You have to submit proof of use before the Office time to time. Otherwise, your trademark is cancelled.

Whereas in Turkey, once you register a trademark you may sit back and forget. It does not matter whether you have used that trademark or not. As long as you don’t file objection against a Registration of another trademark there is no problem.

There is also an “opposition addiction” in Turkey. There are trademark owners who have this addiction. Some of them even register descriptive marks and try to cancel the way of others.

For trademark owners, this situation sometimes arises as compulsory actions as self-defense. In Turkey, it is almost a tradition to imitate every well-known trademark in various ways. This approach goes as far as possible. For this reason, trademark owners may have to “cover whole goods in class” or file numerous oppositions in order to protect their trademarks against attacks.

So, of course, there are always two different sides to the same situation. However, it is not easy to be an attorney in a system where the concept of trademark is not well-established, and the system sometimes imposes a “more royalist than the king” on us. You must not only assist your client in the correct way of trademark inception but also protect them against imitators.

On the other hand, you have to deal with frauds who introduce themselves as “attorneys” but have nothing to do with being an attorney. People who have just one target is making easy money, are always around. The saddest thing is the fact that they can still find someone to take.