The Analysis of the General Court's TOTU –
TOTTO Decision (T-633/19) with a Perspective from
Turkey
In cases where the word elements of trademarks are written in a
stylized manner and where letters of the word elements cannot be
easily distinguished due to the stylized writing style; determining
how the word element should be perceived constitutes a problematic
area in evaluating likelihood of confusion.
In Turkey, trademark applicants are required to write down the
word element of the trademark in the relevant section of the
application form that are filed with the Turkish Patent and
Trademark Office. At this point, the applicants and/or their agents
have the wrong expectation that the stylized word elements will be
perceived by the Office in the exact same way that they have
presented it on paper. This expectation is erroneous, because the
main point of consideration for the Office is not how the applicant
perceives the word element of the trademark or how it is
