Yes — a registered trademark can be inherited. Turkey's Industrial Property Code (Law No. 6769) expressly provides that trademark rights can be transferred by inheritance. A trademark registered in the name of a natural person becomes part of the estate on the owner's death and passes to the heirs automatically; no separate assignment agreement is needed. What the heirs need to do is apply to TÜRKPATENT (Turkey's patent and trademark office) with the certificate of inheritance to record the transfer by inheritance — the fee under the 2026 fee schedule is TRY 5,550.
In short:
- A trademark is an asset with economic value; like a house or a car, it becomes part of the estate.
- The transfer by inheritance takes place at the moment of death; recordal in the register documents it and makes it possible to act on it.
- A trademark registered in the name of a company is not inherited — the heirs receive the share in the company, while the trademark stays with the company.
- Several heirs own the trademark jointly until the estate is divided; none of them can dispose of it alone.
- The renewal calendar and the use requirement keep running without waiting for the inheritance process.
We covered assignment by agreement in our guide How to Assign a Trademark in Turkey; this article focuses on the particular rules of the transfer that happens without any agreement — inheritance.
First, Clarify Ownership: Whose Trademark Is It?
The answer to the inheritance question depends on whose name appears in the register, and the distinction here escapes most families:
| Owner in the register | What happens on death? |
|---|---|
| Natural person (individual) | The trademark becomes part of the estate and passes to the heirs by inheritance |
| Natural person who owns a sole proprietorship | The same — because the registration is in the person's name, the trademark becomes part of the estate |
| Limited company / joint stock company | The trademark stays with the company; the heirs receive the deceased shareholder's share |
In family businesses, the sign known as "my father's trademark" is very often registered in the company's name; in that case inheritance law applies not to the trademark but to the company shares, and the future of the trademark depends on decisions taken within the company's shareholder structure. Conversely, the trademark of a tradesperson who ran the business as an individual becomes part of the estate directly. There is a simple way to find out which situation you are in: look up the register record using the trademark number.
How Does the Transfer by Inheritance Take Place?
A transfer by inheritance works in a fundamentally different way from a contractual assignment. In an assignment, ownership changes hands through a notarised agreement; in inheritance, the transfer takes place at the moment of death, automatically by operation of law. The heirs are legally the owners of the trademark even before the certificate of inheritance has been issued.
Recordal in the register does not create this transfer; it documents it. But ownership that has not been documented is practically unusable: as long as the register shows the former owner, transactions before the Office stall, notices go nowhere, and heirs who want to assign, license or defend the trademark have to prove their ownership separately at every step. That is why recording the inheritance, even though there is no legal deadline for it, is a transaction that should not be delayed.
Recording the Inheritance with TÜRKPATENT: Step by Step
1. Obtain the certificate of inheritance
The certificate of inheritance is obtained from a notary or from a civil court of peace; it shows who the heirs are and in what shares, and it is the basis for recording the transfer by inheritance.
2. Request recordal of the transfer by inheritance
The request is made through EPATS (TÜRKPATENT's online filing system); the certificate of inheritance is attached to the file and the recordal fee for the transfer by inheritance — TRY 5,550 under the 2026 fee schedule — is paid. Note the difference from an assignment: no notarised agreement is required, so there is no notary cost either. The fee is charged per trademark file — if the deceased owner had three trademarks, three separate recordals are processed.
3. The register is updated
The Office processes the recordal and publishes it in the Official Trademark Bulletin; the trademark now appears in the names of the heirs. If the estate has not been divided, all the heirs are recorded together; if the trademark has been allocated to one heir by a partition agreement, the recordal can be made directly in that heir's name on the basis of that document.
If There Are Several Heirs: The Joint Ownership Problem
The rule of inheritance law with the greatest impact on a trademark is this: until the estate is divided, the heirs own the trademark jointly (in common among the heirs). The practical meaning of this is harsh — as a rule, no heir can alone assign the trademark, grant a licence, bring proceedings on behalf of the trademark or waive it; decisions are taken together. An assignment agreement signed by only one of three heirs has no effect without the participation of the others.
This situation is not sustainable, and there are four ways out:
- Allocate the trademark to one heir. Through a partition agreement, the trademark is left to the heir who actually carries on the business; this is the most common and the healthiest solution.
- Regulate co-ownership by contract. If the trademark is to remain in the names of several heirs, the rules on use, sharing of income and decision-making should be set out in a written protocol. We have described how a trademark with multiple owners works in detail in Can a Trademark Be Assigned to Multiple Owners?
- Sell the trademark and divide the proceeds. The heirs assign the trademark together to a third party; the ordinary assignment procedure applies.
- Assign the trademark to the family company. If the business continues under a company umbrella, the trademark is also assigned to that company; the personal estate and the commercial asset are separated, and future transfers by inheritance become simpler.
Can a Trademark Be Left by Will?
Yes. A trademark owner can, by a testamentary disposition, leave the trademark to a specific heir or to a person who is not an heir. The limit is the rights of heirs entitled to a reserved portion; where the trademark makes up a significant part of the estate, the extent to which the disposition will stand depends on the circumstances of the specific case. For owners whose trademark carries serious value, the right practice is to carry out this planning during their lifetime and with expert support — a family dispute over the interpretation of a will also erodes the trademark's value in the market.
Calendar Risks for Heirs
The inheritance process can take months; the trademark's calendars, however, wait for no one:
- The renewal window. The term of protection does not stop on death. If the window has opened, renewal must not be missed even if recordal of the inheritance has not yet been completed; the rules and deadlines are in our renewal guide.
- The use requirement. The five-year use period keeps running; if the business has in practice stopped with the owner's death, the risk of revocation of the trademark grows. The heirs need either to continue use or to take a deliberate decision — details in our article on the five-year rule.
- Ongoing proceedings. Oppositions filed by the deceased owner, response deadlines and court cases await the heirs' attention; an opposition whose deadline is missed does not come back.
Renouncing the Inheritance and Estates in Debt
A trademark is not always a welcome inheritance. If the estate is insolvent, the heirs can renounce the inheritance; renunciation is not selective — an heir cannot say "I'll leave the debts and take the trademark", because renunciation covers the entire estate. There is also a fact worth knowing in the other direction: as an asset with economic value, the trademark is on the radar of the deceased owner's creditors too; if the heirs divide the trademark among themselves and dispose of it before the estate's debts have been paid, this can open a new front of dispute with the creditors. In estates burdened with debt, the fate of the trademark should be planned as part of the inheritance process as a whole and with expert support.
First Steps After the Transfer: The Heir's Checklist
Once recordal in the register is complete, the trademark has been taken over legally; taking it over in practice requires the following steps:
- Establish the renewal date. Calculate the expiry of protection from the filing date and set a reminder — the deceased owner's calendar has usually not been handed over to anyone.
- Decide on use. If the trademark will continue to be used, archive evidence (invoices, packaging, advertising) from the start of your own period of ownership; if it will not be used, consider the options of selling or licensing without delay.
- Start Bulletin monitoring. The right to oppose similar applications now belongs to the heirs; a right that is not monitored cannot be exercised.
- Gather the connected assets. Domain names, social media accounts and platform registrations do not pass with the register; access to each must be taken over separately.
- Put the co-ownership rules in writing. If the trademark has remained with several heirs, set out use and sharing of income in a written protocol rather than relying on a verbal understanding.
Conclusion
A trademark can be inherited — but an inherited trademark left to its own devices quickly loses value. The right order is clear: verify ownership from the register, obtain the certificate of inheritance, have the transfer by inheritance recorded at TRY 5,550 per trademark, choose the ownership model deliberately if there are several heirs, and meanwhile keep the renewal and use calendars in sight. None of these steps is complicated; the only risky thing is letting the uncertainty drag on for years. Every trademark still standing in the register in the name of a deceased owner is both a family asset losing value and an open invitation to competitors on the lookout for an opportunity.
Has a trademark been left to your family?
Send us the trademark number and the status of the inheritance via our contact page; we will check whose name the register record shows and the upcoming renewal and use risks, and handle the recordal of the transfer by inheritance on your behalf. Our legal protection team will help you plan the division of the estate and any subsequent assignment or licensing structure.