Within the scope of the Madrid System, applicants can protect their trademarks in more than one country including Turkey with a single application by applying for international trademark registration. Detailed information on international trademark registration under the Madrid System may be accessed here, on another one of our articles.
However, due to the international trademark registration remaining dependent on the basic application or the basic registration[1] which has been filed with the office of origin, the transformation of international trademark registration to national trademark registration may be necessary for trademark protection.
In this article, we will be discussing the transformation of international trademark registrations to national trademark registrations in Turkey.
Dependency on the Application Filed at the Office of Origin
Trademarks registered in Turkey under the Madrid System remain dependent on the basic mark for the 5-year period. Within 5 years from the date of international registration, if the basic mark has ceased to have an effect (due to refusal, cancellation, invalidation, revocation or any other reason), the international trademark registration and thus, the relevant trademark registration made in Turkey under the Madrid System will also be cancelled.
Documents Required for a Transformation Request
If the basic mark is cancelled at the request of the office of origin in accordance with the Madrid System during the 5-year period, the trademark owner has the option to obtain continued protection in Turkey by requesting transformation from the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (the “Office”) within three months from the date of cancellation.
The documents to be submitted to the Office are regulated in Article 27 of the Regulation on Implementation of the Industrial Property Code. Accordingly, the following documents must be submitted to the Office when submitting a transformation request:
Request form
Turkish translation of the goods or services subject to the transformation process approved by a sworn translator
Official fee
For further queries, please contact:
Dogukan Berk Aksoy, LL.M.
Attorney at Law | Trademark Attorney | Patent Attorney
T: +90 312 969 09 63
Elif Koturoglu
Attorney at Law | Trademark Attorney
Evren Firat Goklu
Attorney at Law | Trademark Attorney
[1] Basic mark refers to basic registration and basic application.