Yes — a registered trademark can be made available for use by someone else while ownership stays with the proprietor. The law expressly allows this: a trademark may be the subject of a licence, and use made with the proprietor's consent is, by law, deemed to be use by the proprietor. The question is not "can I let someone use it" but "which tool should I use to do so" — because there are four different legal routes, and each serves a different goal.
The four routes in brief:
- Licence: permission to use the trademark — the grant of a single right, the simplest tool.
- Franchise: trademark + business model + supervision — the tool for growing a chain.
- Contract manufacturing: having someone else make your branded product — permission to produce, while the sales stay with you.
- Intra-group permission: use by group companies of a trademark registered to an individual or a holding company — it must be documented in writing.
And whichever route you choose, three rules are shared: the permission must be in writing, quality must be supervised, and permissions that amount to a licence must be recorded in the register.
The Legal Basis: Ownership Stays, Use Is Granted
The essence of letting someone use your trademark is the separation of ownership from use. You remain the proprietor in the register; the other party receives only the authority to use the mark within the framework drawn by the contract. This separation has two important consequences. The first is security: however long the user uses the mark, as long as the use rests on a contract, it does not become a co-owner of your trademark. The second is an advantage: permitted use counts as your use for the purposes of the five-year use requirement — even a proprietor that never uses its trademark itself is safe against the risk of revocation if there is genuine, documented permitted use.
Route 1: Licence — The Simplest Tool
A licence is the general legal template for letting others use a trademark: by written contract, you grant permission to use the mark for all or part of the scope of the registration, for a fixed or an indefinite term. It may be reserved for a single user (exclusive) or open to several users (non-exclusive); unless otherwise stated, it is deemed non-exclusive. Recording it in the register (TRY 9,870 in 2026) makes the permission visible to third parties. The anatomy of the agreement is covered in the trademark licence agreement guide; the licensor's checklist is in a separate article, and the licensee's in its companion guide.
Route 2: Franchise — Letting Others Use the Mark Together With the System
If your goal is to replicate not just the trademark but a proven business model together with it, the tool is a franchise: know-how, operating standards, training and ongoing supervision are handed over in a single package with the permission to use the trademark. The trademark permission inside it is still in the nature of a licence and should be recorded in the register. A detailed comparison of the two models is in the article on the difference between a licence and a franchise, and the trademark side of the system is in the article on franchising.
Route 3: Contract Manufacturing — "Have It Made, Sell It Yourself"
If you hand over production to someone else and keep the sales for yourself, the contract manufacturer printing your trademark on the products and packaging is also a form of permitted use and should be tied to a written contract. The trademark section of a contract manufacturing agreement has three essentials: the manufacturer may use the trademark only for your orders, may not sell overproduction on its own account, and must comply with the quality standards. When these lines are not written in, the contract manufacturer becomes one of the most common sources of counterfeits: "night shift" production on the same line, under the same trademark, without your knowledge.
Route 4: Intra-Group Use — Invisible, But It Must Be Documented
The most common way of letting others use a trademark in Turkey is the one without a contract: the trademark is registered in the founder's personal name or to the holding company, while in practice the operating company uses it. This arrangement is legitimate, but in its undocumented form it is fragile — when use has to be proved, it runs into the objection that "the company using the mark is not the proprietor"; in an assignment or investment negotiation, it runs into the question "what is the basis for the permission?" The fix is cheap: a one-page written intra-group licence, royalty-free if need be. We covered the options for moving trademarks filed in a personal name without setting up a company over to a company in the related article.
Two Neighbouring Concepts That Do Not Count as Letting Others Use the Mark
- Assignment: This is a tool not for letting others use the trademark but for parting with it — ownership passes permanently and there is no going back. If you want a permanent exit, the route runs through the trademark assignment guide.
- Letter of consent: This is permission given for someone else to register a similar trademark in its own name; it does not hand over the use of your trademark but creates a second, independent trademark in the register. The details are in the article on letters of consent.
The Right Tool for Your Goal
| Your goal | The right tool |
|---|---|
| Letting a manufacturer or seller use my trademark and earning income from it | Licence (non-exclusive or exclusive) |
| Replicating my business model through branches or a chain | Franchise (+ licence recordal) |
| Handing over production while keeping sales in my own hands | Contract manufacturing agreement (with trademark clauses) |
| Letting my company use a trademark registered in my personal name | Written intra-group licence (may be royalty-free) |
| Exiting the trademark permanently | Assignment |
| Allowing the registration of a similar trademark | Letter of consent |
Whichever Route You Choose: Five Shared Rules
- Put it in writing. Transactions concerning a trademark are subject to the written form requirement; verbal permission neither goes into the register nor serves as proof.
- Define the scope. Which products, which channel, which territory, which term — a limit that is not written down is read as no limit at all.
- Supervise quality. Your trademark is associated with the quality produced by everyone you let use it; a supervision clause and actual supervision are both essential.
- Have the licence recorded in the register. An unrecorded permission is invisible to third parties acting in good faith.
- Build an evidence archive. Ask the user for invoices, packaging and advertising samples on a regular basis; that file is your defence under the use requirement.
Before You Grant Use: Is Your Scope Wide Enough?
The permission you can give is limited by the protection you hold. If your registration covers only service classes, the "permission" you give a manufacturer for packaged products steps into a legal void — you cannot let anyone use a trademark in a product group where you cannot protect it either. Before sitting down to negotiate, compare the scope of your registration with the intended use; if it falls short, first extend the scope with a new application and structure the agreement so that it depends on the registration. The same check applies to geography: trademark protection is territorial. A Turkish registration cannot serve as the basis for letting others use your trademark abroad; if you are going to grant a licence or franchise in an export market, you need a registration in that country — the route for a multi-country application is in the article on the Madrid Protocol.
The Tax Side: Questions Arise Whether There Is a Fee or Not
Income from letting others use a trademark (licence fees, royalties) is taxable income; with royalty-free use within a group, on the other hand, the question of whether transactions between related companies are at arm's length may come up. These items are a matter not of trademark law but of tax legislation, and they vary with the structure — bring your financial adviser into the process when you set up the model. For where trademark income and expenses sit in the books, see our accounting article.
Turning a Blind Eye Is Not Granting Permission
The dark twin of letting others use your trademark is saying nothing about unauthorised use. De facto use that has been tolerated for years on the basis that "they are people we know, let them use it" produces uncertainty instead of a contract and precedent instead of income — and remaining silent for a long time may come to weaken certain claims later on (the outcome depends on the facts of the case). The rule is simple: give a contract to those you want to use the mark, and a cease-and-desist letter to those you do not. The grey zone between the two only accumulates disputes; and the tool that makes the grey zone visible is regular monitoring.
The 4 Most Common Mistakes When Letting Others Use a Trademark
- Choosing the wrong tool. Non-exclusive licences signed with dreams of building a chain, and permissions given to a single manufacturer under the name "franchise", end up being subject to unexpected rules when a dispute arises. The tool is chosen according to the goal — go back to the table.
- A double promise within the same scope. Granting one party an exclusive licence and then signing a second contract manufacturing permission in the same product group means a breach of one of the two contracts. Keep an inventory of the permissions you have granted in a single table.
- Setting up the agreement with no term and no exit. Permission to use a trademark with no term, renewal conditions or termination triggers written in turns into a relationship that does not end when you want it to end.
- Licensing one item of the portfolio and forgetting the rest. The renewal calendar and Bulletin monitoring of a licensed trademark remain the proprietor's responsibility; trademarks whose register maintenance is forgotten while the income flows in lapse while they are still under licence.
Conclusion
A registered trademark can be made available to someone else — and when it is structured correctly, this increases both the trademark's income and its security against the use requirement. The roadmap is clear: define your goal (income, a chain, production or order within a group), choose the tool accordingly, tie the permission to a written document and to the register, supervise quality and archive the evidence. The only wrong way to let others use your trademark is without a contract and without supervision. Every relationship of this kind set up today with a handshake will be sought tomorrow, as a written contract, at the table of an assignment, an investment or a dispute — and having it written up on that day is always more expensive than writing it today.
Let Us Set Up the Model for Letting Others Use Your Trademark
Briefly tell us, via our contact page, who is going to use your trademark and how; together we will choose the tool that fits your goal, structure the agreement and complete the licence recordal. In the period after you grant permission, our trademark watch service brings onto your radar everyone who goes beyond the permitted use and everyone who uses the mark without permission.