# How Long Does a Trademark Assignment Take in Turkey? Stage-by-Stage Timeline

> The agreement and notary take a few days; TÜRKPATENT recordal can take weeks depending on the file. A stage-by-stage timeline and what delays an assignment.

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The duration of a trademark assignment in Turkey runs on two separate clocks. **The stages in the parties' hands** (the register check, the agreement, notary approval and the application through EPATS, TÜRKPATENT's online filing system) take **a few days** for a well-prepared file. For **TÜRKPATENT's examination of the recordal** (TÜRKPATENT is Turkey's patent and trademark office), however, the law sets no fixed period; in practice, trouble-free files are usually finalised within a few weeks, and the timeline can stretch depending on the Office's workload and the state of the documents.

When a file is delayed, the cause is most often one of three things: a missing authority document, a trade name or address that was never updated in the register, or a partial assignment list with an unclear scope. All three can be fixed before notary day. For the legal requirements and what each step involves, read [How to Assign a Trademark in Turkey](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/how-to-assign-a-trademark-in-turkey); the cost items are broken down in [Trademark Assignment Fees in Turkey 2026](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/trademark-assignment-fees-in-turkey-2026).

## The Assignment Timeline Stage by Stage

| Stage | In whose hands? | Duration in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Preliminary review of the register (encumbrances, entries, scope) | Parties / attorney | 1–3 days |
| Drafting and negotiating the agreement | Parties | 1 day to several weeks (depending on the negotiation) |
| Notary approval | Parties | Same day |
| Application to record the assignment via EPATS + fee | Parties / attorney | Same day |
| Examination by the Office and entry in the register | TÜRKPATENT | Variable — usually in the order of weeks |
| Publication in the Official Trademark Bulletin | TÜRKPATENT | Following recordal |

The only unpredictable link in the process is the Office's examination. You cannot speed it up, but *not dragging it out* is entirely in your hands. A complete file is recorded in a single round. An incomplete one grows longer with every round of notice and response.

## The Real Question: When Does the Assignment Take Effect?

In practice, the question "how long does it take?" usually means "when does the trademark become mine?", and the answer has two layers:

### Between the parties: at the moment of notary approval

As soon as the agreement is approved by the notary, the assignment is valid and binding between the parties, and from that moment payment of the price and the rights relating to use of the trademark operate as the agreement provides. Nothing is left "up in the air". Even while the recordal is pending, the assignee is the owner under the agreement.

### Against third parties: upon recordal in the register

Rights arising from an assignment that has not been recorded in the register cannot be asserted against third parties acting in good faith. As long as the register still shows the former owner, anyone who deals in reliance on the register is protected; in proceedings before the Office, too, the party addressed is the owner shown in the register. For certification marks and collective marks the position is even clearer: for these types of mark, the assignment acquires *validity* upon recordal in the register. The gap between the two layers is the real risk window in the assignment timeline. The only way to narrow it is to file the recordal application on the day you leave the notary.

## 6 Situations That Drag the Process Out

1. **Missing or insufficient documents.** The Office notifies the deficiency and allows a period for it to be remedied; each round of notice and response adds weeks to the timeline. A deficiency not remedied in time causes the request to lapse.
2. **Problems with signing authority.** If it cannot be documented that the person signing on behalf of a company is authorised to make the assignment, the transaction stalls at the notary or at the Office. A current signature circular and, where required, a board resolution should be prepared from the outset.
3. **Out-of-date register details.** If the assignor's trade name has changed but the change has not been entered in the register, the trade name in the agreement will not match the trade name in the register; the change of trade name must be recorded first, and only then the assignment. This turns a single transaction into two.
4. **Encumbrances on the trademark.** A pledge or attachment entry raises legal and commercial questions over the assignment; resolving it (release, the creditor's consent) should be dealt with before the assignment.
5. **A partial assignment with an unclear scope.** If the list of assigned goods/services does not match the wording in the register word for word, the Office asks for clarification. In a partial assignment, the list should be written by copying it from the register record.
6. **A foreign connection.** Where a foreign party is involved, the mandatory use of an attorney, a power of attorney and translations of documents come into play; postal and legalisation steps are added to the timeline.

## Differences in Duration by Type of Transfer

The transactions discussed under the heading of "assignment" are not all of one kind, and their timelines differ considerably:

| Type of transfer | What determines the duration | Nature of the timeline |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Contractual assignment (sale) | The parties' preparation + the Office's examination | The fastest — days + weeks |
| Partial assignment | Clarity of the list of goods/services + opening of a new file | Slightly longer than a contractual assignment |
| Merger / demerger | Completion of the trade registry process | Depends on the company law timeline; the trademark recordal is the last link |
| Transfer by inheritance | Obtaining the certificate of inheritance, agreement among the heirs | The most variable — can take months |

In mergers and demergers, the trademark side is often the forgotten final step: the transaction is completed at the trade registry, but the trademarks remain in the name of the former legal entity for months. Updating the trademark register records immediately after the structural change is registered is necessary so that later assignment and renewal transactions do not stall. A change of legal form, by contrast, is not an assignment: the company continues as the same legal person, so the change is recorded like a change of trade name (Article 128 of the Implementing Regulation). We have set out the specific steps of the inheritance scenario in [Can a Trademark Be Inherited?](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/can-a-trademark-be-inherited)

## Three Example Timelines

**Scenario 1: A ready file.** A single trademark with an unencumbered register record; both parties' authority documents are complete; the price has been agreed. Register check on Monday, agreement on Tuesday, notary on Wednesday and the EPATS application on the same day. The parties' side is finished in three days; the only wait left is for the Office's recordal, and for a trouble-free file this is usually finalised within weeks.

**Scenario 2: A corporate assignment.** Five trademarks in the portfolio, one of them with a recorded licence; the buyer wants a valuation and the price is payable in instalments. Here it is the negotiation, not the Office, that sets the timeline: the valuation, arranging for the licence to be terminated or transferred to the assignee, and rounds of drafting on the agreement take weeks. Once signing day arrives, the rest of the process is the same as in Scenario 1. In most assignments that seem to take a long time, what drags on is not the procedure but the bargaining.

**Scenario 3: A file that starts with missing documents.** The assignor's trade name changed two years ago but was never entered in the register; the trade name in the agreement does not match the register. First the change of trade name must be recorded, then the assignment; each transaction brings its own set of documents and its own examination process. A single-round job turns into a chain lasting two to three months. The remedy for this scenario is to pull the trademark's register record weeks before signing.

## Loose Ends While the Recordal Is Pending

- Manage the renewal window by the calendar, because the term of protection does not wait for the assignment process. If the window has opened, coordinate the renewal through the owner shown in the register at that moment; a missed window leads to the surcharged late renewal fee, and missing that period as well leads to the right coming to an end. The rules and dates are in our [renewal guide](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/how-to-renew-a-trademark).
- Use the agreement to protect the order of payment and recordal. A buyer who does not want to pay the full price before the recordal is finalised should write this in through instalments or an escrow-type holding arrangement; that sequencing protects both sides for as long as the recordal takes.
- Whether the recordal has been processed can be checked free of charge by trademark number on the Office's online search screen. Publication in the Bulletin announces that the process is complete.
- The agreement should state who will use the trademark, and to what extent, while the recordal is pending. Leave that open and you get a messy interim period in which both parties use the same sign.

## The Realistic Way to Shorten the Timeline: A Complete File the First Time

There is no priority examination or paid acceleration for recording an assignment. The quality of the file decides the timeline. If the following checklist is completed before notary day, your half of the process fits into a week and the Office's side goes through in a single round:

- A current extract from the register for the trademark has been obtained; encumbrances and entries are clear or have been resolved.
- The assignor's trade name/address details in the register are up to date.
- The agreement clearly sets out the trademark number, the scope (full/partial) and the price; in a partial assignment, the list has been copied from the register.
- Signing authority documents are ready for both parties.
- Payment of the assignment recordal fee has been planned; it is clear who will file the application.

Transfers without an agreement, such as a transfer by inheritance, run on a different clock. There, obtaining the certificate of inheritance can take longer than the procedure itself; the scenario is summarised in [Trademark Assignment and Inheritance](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/trademark-assignment-and-inheritance).

## What to Do on the Day You Leave the Notary

Nobody can promise an exact period for the Office's recordal. Complete files are usually recorded within weeks. Almost every delay, on the other hand, comes from an avoidable cause, and those causes are dealt with before notary day. If the checklist is done and you file the recordal application on the day you leave the notary, there is no time left to lose on your side of the calendar.

To build a timeline for your particular file, we need the trademark number and the names of the parties. Once you send them through our [contact page](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/iletisim), we check the register and prepare a calendar showing which documents are ready, which are missing and whether anything clashes with the renewal window. From the agreement through to recordal, our [legal protection team](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/hizmetler/hukuki-koruma) runs the process.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How many days does a trademark assignment take in total?

For a well-prepared file, a trademark assignment usually takes a few days of work by the parties plus a few weeks of examination by the Office; no exact number of days can be given. The register check, the agreement, notary approval and the application through EPATS (TÜRKPATENT's online filing system) are in the parties' hands and take a few days. The law sets no fixed period for TÜRKPATENT's examination of the recordal; trouble-free files are usually recorded within a few weeks, though the Office's workload can extend this.

### Can notary approval be obtained on the same day?

Yes. If the text of the agreement is ready and the signing authority documents for any company party are complete, notary approval is obtained in a single visit, on the same day. Notarisation of the assignment agreement is a condition of its validity (Article 148(4) SMK), and the agreement must state the trademark's registration number and name (Implementing Regulation, Article 125(1)). Delays rarely come from the notary; far more often they stem from missing authority documents or clauses not yet agreed.

### Who owns the trademark while the recordal is pending?

While the recordal is pending, the trademark belongs to the assignee under the agreement: the notarised agreement makes the assignment effective between the parties (Article 148(4) SMK). However, an unrecorded assignment cannot be asserted against third parties acting in good faith (Article 148(5) SMK), and before the Office the owner shown in the register is the one that counts. For collective and certification marks, the assignment is valid only upon recordal (Article 148(7) SMK). So the recordal application should not be put off.

### What happens if documents are found to be missing during recordal of the assignment?

If documents are missing, TÜRKPATENT notifies the deficiency and allows one month to remedy it (Implementing Regulation, Article 136(2)). If the deficiency is remedied in time, the procedure continues from where it left off; if not, the request is deemed not to have been made, the fee paid is refunded on request, and a new application is needed. Typical deficiencies are an unclear scope in the notarised agreement, signing authority documents and, in a partial assignment, the list of goods/services.

### Is there an official way to speed up the assignment?

No. There is no paid acceleration or priority examination procedure for recording an assignment before TÜRKPATENT; the recordal fee of TRY 5,960 under the 2026 fee schedule (item 02.01.06) is the same for every file. The only real way to shorten the timeline is to submit a complete file the first time: a clean register record, full authority documents and a notarised agreement with a clearly defined scope.

### What happens if the assignment coincides with the trademark's renewal period?

The term of protection keeps running while the assignment is pending; renewal is due in the last six months before protection expires (Article 23 SMK). Renewal is requested by the owner shown in the register at that moment, so the parties should coordinate it in the agreement. If that window is missed, renewal is possible only within a six-month grace period with an additional fee: for up to two classes, TRY 15,420 (item 02.01.24) instead of TRY 8,730 (item 02.01.23) under the 2026 schedule.

### How do I know the assignment has been completed?

Once the assignment has been entered in the register, the owner details in the trademark's register record change and the transaction is published in the Official Trademark Bulletin (Article 148(5) SMK). The status of the file can be tracked free of charge by trademark number on TÜRKPATENT's online search screens. If official proof is needed, a copy of the register record showing the new owner can be requested; under the 2026 fee schedule it costs TRY 2,890 (item 02.01.05).

### Does working with an attorney shorten the assignment process?

No, working with a trademark attorney (marka vekili) does not change the speed of TÜRKPATENT's examination; however, it weeds out from the start the errors on the parties' side that really cause delays: a missing authority document, register details that do not match, an unclear scope. What saves time is the file going in complete the first time, and that is the attorney's job. Parties resident abroad can in any case act before the Office only through a trademark attorney (Article 160(3) SMK).

### Should the assignment price be paid before the recordal?

Not necessarily; the law does not impose any order between payment of the price and recordal, so this is entirely a matter for the agreement. In practice, a balanced structure is to pay part of the price at notary approval and the rest when the recordal is completed; instalments or an escrow-type arrangement can also be written into the agreement. That way the assignor has security at signing, and the assignee does not put the whole price at risk before the recordal is finalised.

### Does a partial assignment take longer?

Somewhat, yes; a partial assignment usually takes slightly longer than a full one. The agreement must state the assigned goods/services and their class numbers; the Office compares the list with the existing scope and creates a new file and certificate with a new registration number in the assignee's name for the assigned part (Implementing Regulation, Article 125(3)). If the list is copied clearly from the register, the difference is small; if it is vague, a deficiency notice extends the process.

## Related Resources

- [Legal Protection](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/hizmetler/hukuki-koruma): Explains attorney support for bulletin oppositions, appeals against refusals, counter-statements and trademark infringement cases.
- [Trademark Registration](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/hizmetler/marka-tescil): Explains how a trademark application is handled before TÜRKPATENT, from the preliminary search and class selection to the registration certificate.
- [How to Assign a Trademark in Turkey: Step-by-Step Guide](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/how-to-assign-a-trademark-in-turkey): A trademark is assigned in Turkey by a notarised agreement and recordal with TÜRKPATENT. Step-by-step process, contract terms, partial assignment and 2026 fee.
- [Trademark Assignment Fees in Turkey 2026: Official Fee Schedule, Notary and Total Cost](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/trademark-assignment-fees-in-turkey-2026): The 2026 fee for recording a trademark assignment in Turkey is TRY 5,960. The real cost with notary, attorney, partial assignment and inheritance items.
- [Can a Trademark Be Assigned? Assignment, Inheritance, Licensing and Pledges](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/trademark-assignment-and-inheritance): Can a trademark be assigned in Turkey? Yes: under SMK Art. 148 it can be assigned, inherited, licensed, pledged or attached. Routes, documents and 2026 fees.
- [Trademark Renewal in Turkey: What It Is and When to Renew](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/how-to-renew-a-trademark): A trademark is renewed every 10 years. The renewal window, six-month grace period, 2026 fees, partial renewal and the TÜRKPATENT renewal process step by step.
- [Patentability Search vs. Freedom-to-Operate Analysis: What Is the Difference?](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/patentability-search-vs-freedom-to-operate): Why are an FTO analysis and a patentability search separate? Differences in question, scope, country and status, free databases and your options after FTO.
- [Disclosing an Invention Before Filing a Patent: Trade Fairs, Presentations and Investors](https://www.webx.net.tr/en/blog/disclosing-an-invention-before-filing-a-patent): Disclosing an invention at a trade fair, in a paper or to investors before filing: Turkey's 12-month grace period, Europe and the US, a safe-sharing protocol.