Genuine Use Of The Trademarks

In accordance with the statistics published by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Institution ("TurkPatent"), 105,996 trademarks were registered with the TurkPatent in 2018 in total; whereas, 81,911 of the domestic trademarks have entered into the protection sphere of the Industrial Property Law ("IP Law")^[i]. However, registration, alone, is insufficient to protect the rights of the trademark proprietors. The trademarks must be used in the goods or service classes in which they are registered, and this usage must be proven, in order to prevent intervention by a third party. In this manner, the effective use of the trademarks in the market is ensured, and new entrepreneurs are prevented from entering into an artificial market^[ii]. This month's article sheds light on the management of trademarks and the legal processes that unused trademarks may encounter.