If someone else has registered the brand name you use, one of three routes may be open. Which one works depends on your answers to three questions:
- Were you using the name before them? → Invalidation (earlier right)
- Have five years passed since registration with no use? → Revocation for non-use
- Is the registrant someone with a business relationship to you? → Bad faith / the commercial agent rule
If none applies, the registration stands, and the strategy becomes changing the name or reaching agreement with the proprietor.
Route 1: Invalidation Based on Earlier Use
Even unregistered, a sign you have used in the course of trade and over which you have acquired an earlier right may found a request to invalidate the later registration (Articles 6/3 and 25).
What you must prove:
- That use began before the other party's filing date
- That the use was in the course of trade and functioned as a trademark — that is, served to distinguish the goods or services
- That the use exceeded a merely local and limited level
The most useful evidence is dated: invoices, contracts, catalogue and packaging images, advertising invoices, web archive records, social media post dates, domain registration dates.
The acquiescence trap
There is a critical time rule on this route: if the proprietor remains silent for five years while knowing, or having reason to know, of the use of the later mark, they may no longer rely on invalidity unless the later registration was made in bad faith (Article 25/6).
The practical consequence: record the position the moment you become aware of it, and act. Waiting erodes your strongest card over time.
Route 2: Revocation for Non-Use
A registered mark may be revoked where it has not been put to genuine use in Türkiye for the goods and services registered within five years of registration, or where use has been suspended for an uninterrupted period of five years (Article 26).
This route is effective against parties who hold a registration without actually using it. An important procedural change: since 10 January 2024, revocation requests are made to TÜRKPATENT rather than to the courts.
The burden of proof reverses here: it is for the proprietor to show use. The scope is set out in The Use Requirement and the Five-Year Rule.
Partial revocation is possible: where the mark is used in some classes but not others, revocation may be sought only for the unused items. If the class you need falls within that scope, this may be enough.
Route 3: Bad Faith and the Commercial Agent Rule
If the registrant is in a business relationship with you — a former partner, distributor, agent, supplier or employee — two special bases come into play:
- The commercial agent/representative rule (Article 6/2): an application filed in the name of a commercial agent or representative without the proprietor's consent is refused unless a proper reason is shown; if registered, its invalidity may be sought.
- Bad faith: where it can be shown that the application was made for a purpose incompatible with commercial honesty, this is a ground of invalidity. Acquiescence does not operate against bad-faith registrations.
On this route the evidence is the relationship itself: contracts, correspondence, emails, order records, partnership documents. Where the relationship and the other party's knowledge of your mark can be established, the file becomes markedly stronger.
Decision Table
| Your situation | Route available | Where |
|---|---|---|
| You used the name first and can document it | Invalidation action | Civil Court for IP Rights |
| Five years have passed and the mark is unused | Revocation for non-use | TÜRKPATENT |
| The registrant is a former partner or distributor | Invalidity (Art. 6/2, bad faith) | Court |
| The mark is newly published and two months have not passed | Opposition | TÜRKPATENT |
| None of the above | Agreement or a change of name | — |
If the Mark Is Not Yet Registered
If the application has been published and the two-month period has not expired, the quickest and cheapest route is opposition. Once that stage is missed, the remaining routes — litigation and revocation — are markedly longer and more costly.
This is why trademark watching is a protection as important as registration: Trademark Watch and Bulletin Monitoring.
Meanwhile, File Your Own Application
Whichever way the dispute goes, filing your own application is strategically sound: it establishes your place in the queue, speeds matters up if the dispute resolves, and strengthens your position in negotiation.
Before filing, check which classes are affected: search the register; if the clash is confined to particular classes, proceeding with a structured scope may be possible.
Let Us Assess Your Position
Which route is open turns on dates and on the documents you hold, and the time rules move quickly. Share your use evidence and the other party's registration details, and our legal protection team will assess which route is realistic.
If your mark is registered and someone is using it without permission, a different process applies: Someone Is Using My Trademark — What Should I Do?