Turkey’s Well-Known Trademarks Registry

Under Turkish trademark law, a well-known trademark enjoys enhanced protection. Well-known trademarks are protected not only for goods and services that are registered, but for different goods and services as well. In fact, none of the trademark regulations identify what exactly a well-known trademark is or what the requirements are. Turkish case law, however, adopts TRIPS and Paris Convention criteria to identify a well-known trademark. The trademark owner is responsible for proving a trademark's well-known character, and must submit sufficient evidence. In practice, it is quite challenging for trademark owners to prove the well-known character of a trademark in terms of collecting of evidence, effort and expense.