Intellectual Property Lawyer

A business’s name, logo, product packaging, software, or the photographs and texts it shares online are often as valuable as its machinery and buildings; but when these assets are not legally protected, they can easily be copied. As an intellectual property lawyer in Mersin, I provide legal support with trademark searches and registration applications, opposition proceedings, trademark infringement and counterfeit product disputes, copyright and software disputes, the protection of industrial designs, and the drafting of licence and assignment agreements. In this field, the scope of a right is often determined at the application stage; opposition periods are short, and evidence, especially on the internet, can disappear quickly.

What Does an Intellectual Property Lawyer Help With?

• Trademark searches, choice of classes and trademark applications to the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TÜRKPATENT)
• Oppositions against similar trademarks published in the bulletin, and responses to oppositions filed against your application
• Actions for a declaration of trademark infringement (marka hakkına tecavüz), for its cessation and for compensation
• Requests for preliminary injunctions (ihtiyati tedbir) and preservation of evidence (delil tespiti) against counterfeit products
• Copyright, authorship and photographs, texts and images used without permission
• Disputes over software development, source code ownership and software licences
• Industrial design registration and design imitation
• Cooperation agreements on licensing, assignment and use of trademarks
• Trademark and copyright infringements on social media and e-commerce platforms

Trademark Searches and the TÜRKPATENT Application

In Türkiye, trademark rights arise through registration, and the application for registration is filed with the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TÜRKPATENT). As a trademark lawyer, the first thing I do before filing is to check whether an identical or similar trademark has already been applied for or registered for identical or similar goods and services. The application determines the classes of goods and services in which the trademark will be protected, and protection applies only to the goods and services selected. For this reason, the choice of classes and scope should take into account not only the business’s current activities but also its plans for the near future.

The Office first examines the application for absolute grounds for refusal, such as distinctiveness and descriptiveness. As a rule, a term that merely describes the kind, quality or geographical origin of a product cannot be registered as a trademark on its own. A registered trademark is protected for ten years from the application date and can be renewed for further ten-year periods. For details, see the trademark registration page.

Opposition to Publication and the Two-Month Period

Applications that pass the examination for absolute grounds are published in the Official Trademark Bulletin (Resmî Marka Bülteni). Within two months of the publication date, holders of earlier rights and other interested parties may oppose the application. Relative grounds for refusal, such as similarity that creates a likelihood of confusion, bad-faith applications or imitation of a well-known trademark, are as a rule examined only upon opposition; in other words, the Office does not automatically refuse every application that resembles your trademark. If the opposition period is missed, the similar trademark may be registered, and it then becomes necessary to take longer routes such as an invalidation action (hükümsüzlük davası).

If your application has been opposed, the opposition must be answered within the time limit. If the trademark on which the opposition is based has been registered for at least five years, the applicant can request proof that the trademark has genuinely been used.

Trademark Infringement: Declaration and Cessation of Infringement

Using a registered trademark without permission, whether an identical sign or one similar enough to cause confusion, constitutes infringement of trademark rights. Infringement is not limited to producing counterfeit goods; offering goods for sale, storing, importing or exporting them while knowing, or being in a position to know, that they are counterfeit is also covered. In such cases, the trademark owner may request a declaration of the infringement, its prevention (men’i) and cessation, the removal of its consequences, compensation for material and non-material damage, seizure of the counterfeit goods and of the equipment used to produce them, and publication of the judgment.

In the infringement process, the first step is often to preserve the evidence. Product samples, invoices, listing records and records made through a notary or the court form the basis of the case. Some disputes can be resolved through a formal warning letter (ihtarname) sent before the lawsuit; however, the order of the steps must be chosen carefully so that the other party is not given the opportunity to destroy the evidence. For details, see the trademark infringement page.

Preliminary Injunctions

If the infringement continues until the case is concluded, it may cause damage that is difficult to remedy. For this reason, in trademark, design and copyright disputes, a preliminary injunction may be requested before or during the lawsuit. Where the conditions are met, the court may order that the production and sale of counterfeit goods be stopped or that these goods be seized. A request for an injunction requires prima facie proof of the existence of the right and of the infringement; as a rule, security is also required. If an injunction has been obtained before a lawsuit is filed, the main action must be brought within two weeks of the date on which enforcement of the injunction was requested.

Copyright and Authorship

Unlike trademarks and designs, intellectual and artistic works are protected from the moment they are created, without any registration. Photographs, texts, illustrations, music, videos and architectural works fall under the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (FSEK) to the extent that they bear the characteristics of their author. The author has economic rights, such as reproduction, distribution, adaptation and communication to the public, and moral rights, such as the right to have the work presented under their name and the right to object to changes. As a rule, protection lasts for the author’s lifetime and for seventy years after their death.

In practice, the most common problems are proving authorship and the unauthorised use of a work. The assignment of economic rights or a permission to use must be made in writing, and the rights assigned must be listed one by one. Otherwise, businesses working with an agency, photographer or designer may later find out that they do not fully own the rights to work they have paid for. For details, see the copyright page.

Software Copyright

Computer programs, together with their preparatory design material, are protected by copyright as scientific and literary works. Protection covers the program’s source code and its expression; the ideas and principles underlying the program are not protected on their own. For software created by employees in the course of their duties at a business, the economic rights are exercised by the employer unless otherwise agreed or unless the contrary follows from the nature of the work. This rule does not apply to work commissioned from an outside software company or a freelance developer; in that case, delivery of the source code, the assignment of economic rights and the licence terms of any open-source components used must be set out clearly in the contract. For details, see the software copyright page.

Protection of Industrial Designs

The appearance of a product or its packaging, through its lines, colours, shape, texture and materials, can be protected as a design. To benefit from protection, the design must be new and must have individual character. A registered design is protected for five years from the application date and can be extended in five-year periods up to a total of twenty-five years. Unregistered designs are also protected for three years from the date they are first made available to the public in Türkiye; however, this protection applies only against copying. If designers disclose their own design to the public within the twelve months before the application, this does not destroy its novelty; once this period has passed, the possibility of registration may be lost. For details, see the design rights page.

Licence and Assignment Agreements

Rights in a trademark, design or software can be assigned, or made available for use by others through a licence. A licence agreement should clearly set out whether the licence is exclusive, the goods and services it covers, the territory, the term, the right to grant sub-licences, quality control, the fee and what happens to remaining stock when the agreement ends. The assignment of industrial property rights such as trademarks and designs must be made in writing and certified by a notary. Recording the assignment or licence in the TÜRKPATENT register is also important so that these transactions can be relied on against third parties acting in good faith. For details, see the licence agreements page.

Infringements on Social Media and in E-Commerce

A significant share of trademark and copyright infringements now takes place on the internet. Fake social media accounts using your trademark, counterfeit product listings on marketplaces, unauthorised use of your product photographs or promotional texts, and domain names resembling your trademark are among the most common of these infringements. The infringement notification mechanisms that platforms offer to right holders are often the first and quickest solution; if the infringement continues or the damage is significant, a preliminary injunction and an infringement action come into play. Because online content can be changed at any moment, reliable evidence such as a notarial record (noter tespiti) showing the date and address should be created at an early stage, in addition to screenshots.

Intellectual Property Cases in Mersin

Trademark, design and copyright disputes fall within the jurisdiction of the Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights Courts (fikri ve sınai haklar mahkemeleri). Cases in Mersin are also heard by the courts designated to act as intellectual and industrial property rights courts. For industrial property rights, actions brought by the right holder may be filed where the claimant is domiciled, where the act was committed or where the effects of the act were felt. For this reason, a trademark owner operating in Mersin can, as a rule, file a lawsuit in Mersin even for an infringement that took place in another city. For disputes involving businesses in districts such as Tarsus, Erdemli, Silifke, Mut and Anamur, the competent court with jurisdiction is determined separately according to the type of case.

For producers working with food, citrus fruit and agricultural products in Mersin, exporters trading through the Port of Mersin and the free zone, and tourism businesses in coastal areas, trademarks and packaging design are their most visible commercial assets. When local producers bring their product names and packaging to market without registering them, they can be left defenceless against applications filed under similar names. Trademark protection is national; registration in Türkiye does not automatically provide protection abroad, so protection must be planned separately in export countries. For right holders living in another city or abroad, the process can be conducted from here by power of attorney (vekâletname).

Frequently Asked Questions