TPTO Refuses Trade Mark Solely due to Bad Faith

When evaluating bad faith claims, the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TPTO) considal matters, but predominantly if the trade mark is an original sign that was created by a prior right holder. In a recent decision, the Office made an exemplary decision concerning bad faith.

The trade mark Carducci is owned by House of Monatic (Pty) Limited of Republic of South Africa. The stylised sign was first created in 1978, yet the firm does not have an earlier registration in Turkey. A Turkish entity filed an application for the same trade mark on the same goods and faced an opposition. This Turkish entity also has registrations for Carducci in different forms that go back as early as 2005. These were also challenged through an invalidation action, pending at the time of the Office decision which is the subject of this article.