A request for revocation for non-use is the administrative application, filed directly with TÜRKPATENT (Turkish Patent and Trademark Office) since January 10, 2024, to remove from the register a trademark not put to genuine use in Turkey for five years from registration. The request is made on a form for a single mark; the revocation fee and the deposit are paid together; the Office gives the owner one month to reply, and the burden of proving use lies with the owner. The mark is revoked for the goods and services for which use is not proven.
This article covers the procedure in order. We cover the five-year rule itself in our article on the trademark use requirement, and the consequences of non-use for the owner in what happens if a trademark is not used.
Why Does TÜRKPATENT Now Have Jurisdiction?
Industrial Property Law No. 6769 (SMK) was published in the Official Gazette on January 10, 2017; SMK Art. 26, which gives the Office power to revoke, entered into force seven years after publication, on January 10, 2024 (Art. 192(1)(a)). Until then, revocation actions were heard by the courts; actions pending on the entry-into-force date are concluded in court (Provisional Art. 4).
The details of the procedure are set out in Arts. 30/A and 30/B, added to the Regulation on the Implementation of the Industrial Property Law (the Implementing Regulation) by an amendment published in the Official Gazette of March 15, 2025. Requests now run under these provisions. What distinguishes revocation from invalidation is who decides and from which date the decision takes effect; you can find the comparison in our article on revocation and invalidation.
Who Can File, and Against Whom?
The Law says revocation may be requested by "interested persons" (Art. 26(2)). In practice, the typical requester is someone whose application for an identical or similar sign is, or will be, blocked. The request is asserted against the person recorded in the register as the trademark owner on the date of the request, or against their legal successors (Art. 26(3)).
If the mark is assigned while the examination is pending, the proceedings continue against the person shown in the register as the right holder (Art. 26(6)). So take the owner details from a current register extract obtained just before filing.
How Are the Five Years Calculated?
The five-year period runs from the registration date, not the application date (Art. 9(1)). The rule applies in two situations: the mark has not been put to genuine use at all within five years of registration, or its use has later been suspended for an uninterrupted period of five years.
A request made before the period expires is wasted. Under Implementing Regulation Art. 30/A, for a mark that has not been registered for at least five years on the request date, the Office rejects the request without even notifying the owner. If you want the revocation to take effect from an earlier date, the mark must also have completed five years on that date.
The Law also closes an escape route. If genuine use was resumed after the five years expired but before the request, the request is rejected; however, use started within the three months before the request was filed with the Office, merely because a request was anticipated, is disregarded (Art. 26(4)). That is why it matters not to alert the other side while preparing the request.
Preliminary Investigation Before Filing
A revocation request is expensive, so look for traces of use first. Places to check:
- The owner's website and social media accounts; whether the mark appears in product images.
- Products sold under the mark on marketplaces and in search engines.
- The company's status in the trade registry: active, in liquidation, or struck off.
- Other marks of the same owner and whether a license is recorded; use with consent also counts as use by the owner (Art. 9(3)).
- Trade fair catalogs, industry publications and dealer lists.
This investigation is not conclusive; use you missed may surface in the owner's file. The aim is to see whether the request is reasonable and where it is strong.
How to File the Request, Step by Step
Each revocation request is made for a single registered trademark, using a signed revocation request form. The form states the grounds with the corresponding article, paragraph and subparagraph of the relevant legislation.
- Obtain a current register extract. Verify the registration number, registration date, owner and list of goods and services from it.
- Define the scope. Decide whether you want revocation for all goods and services or only some; revocation is granted only for the items requested, and no revocation decision can be given in respect of similar goods.
- State the grounds. For non-use, the legal basis is SMK Art. 26(1)(a) and Art. 9(1).
- Consider the effective date. If you want the revocation to take effect before the request date, state that date expressly in the request.
- Pay the fee and file the request. The revocation fee and the deposit are paid together with the request; the payment details are attached to it.
- Watch for a deficiency notice. If the form is incomplete, the Office gives one month; if the deficiency is not remedied in time, the request is rejected.
The form must include the registration number of the mark to be revoked, the goods and services concerned, the identity and contact details of the requester and of any attorney, the grounds, and information showing that the fee has been paid.
Revocation Fee and Deposit: Who Gets What Back?
The Implementing Regulation provides that the revocation fee consists of two items, the Office fee and the amount held in a deposit account, collected in a single payment. In the TÜRKPATENT 2026 trademark fee tariff, these two items are as follows; check current amounts against the TÜRKPATENT tariff before each filing:
| Code | Item | 2026 (TRY) |
|---|---|---|
| 02.01.30 | Trademark revocation fee | 35,320 |
| 02.01.31 | Trademark revocation request deposit amount | 35,320 |
What happens to the deposit depends on the outcome. If the request is rejected in full, the deposit is paid, upon request, to the trademark owner recorded in the register; if granted in full, it is paid to the requester. On partial grant, no one is paid and the amount is recorded as Office revenue. Payment requires a final decision, and amounts not claimed within ten years of the final decision are recorded as Office revenue. If the request is withdrawn, or rejected because a deficiency was not remedied in time, the deposit is refunded to the requester upon request; the Office fee is not refunded.
Withdrawal is a useful option in negotiations. A revocation request can be withdrawn before the Office decides; this requires a withdrawal form and, if the request was filed through an attorney, a power of attorney expressly including authority to withdraw (Implementing Regulation Art. 33). If you reach an agreement with the owner on an assignment or consent while the request is pending, you can withdraw the request and ask for the deposit back.
The Owner's Reply and the Burden of Proof
The request is served on the owner, who submits evidence and a reply within one month. On request within that month, the Office grants up to one more month (Art. 26(7)). If necessary, the Office may ask the parties for further information and documents, again allowing one month. Replies and evidence not submitted in time are disregarded, and the decision is made on the file.
The burden of proof lies with the owner: they must show that they have put the mark to genuine use in Turkey for the goods and services concerned, or that they have a justified reason for non-use. If they submit no evidence in time, or the evidence does not show genuine use, the Office grants the request. We explained how to document the nature, place, time and extent of use in our guide to the proof-of-use evidence file; as the requester, you can use the same criteria to spot weaknesses in the other side's file.
The Implementing Regulation states that Art. 30, on evidence of use in oppositions, also applies to revocation requests to the extent appropriate. Accordingly, evidence must be clear, understandable and reliable, the parts showing use of the mark must be marked, and a detailed list must show which fact is proven by which piece of evidence. For disorganized or unlisted evidence, the Office may give one month to remedy the deficiency; a sworn translation may be required for evidence in a foreign language. If the other side's file contains undated images, documents showing a different sign, or invoices outside the relevant period, point them out one by one in your observations.
The Justified Reason Defense
Even if the owner cannot prove use, the request is rejected if they show that non-use was based on a justified reason (Art. 9(1)). The TÜRKPATENT Proof of Use Guidelines define a justified reason as a factual or legal obstacle not caused by the owner's fault, arising independently of their will, and making use impossible. The Guidelines list as examples import restrictions, embargoes, changes in customs legislation, and the competent authorities' failure to grant the permit required to sell the product.
By contrast, a deterioration in the owner's finances, a change in fashion or, as a rule, bankruptcy does not count as a justified reason. As the requester, question whether the claimed obstacle actually covers the five-year period and relates directly to the mark.
Timeline Table
| Stage | Period | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| When the request can be filed | After 5 years from registration have passed | SMK Art. 9(1), Reg. Art. 30/A |
| Use that is disregarded | 3 months before the request (in anticipation of it) | SMK Art. 26(4) |
| Remedying form deficiencies | 1 month | Reg. Art. 30/A |
| Owner's reply | 1 month + up to 1 month on request | SMK Art. 26(7) |
| Appeal against the decision | 2 months from notification | SMK Art. 20(2) |
Decision, Partial Revocation and Effect
If the ground for revocation exists only for some of the goods and services, partial revocation is ordered for those alone; no revocation decision may be given in a way that alters the representation of the mark (Art. 26(5)). The revocation decision takes effect from the date the request was filed with the Office; on request, it may be ordered to take effect from an earlier date on which the ground for revocation arose (Art. 27(2)).
A final revocation decision has effect against everyone; the mark is removed from the register and this is published in the Bulletin (Art. 27(5), 27(7)). The Bulletin notice also states the goods and services revoked and the date from which the revocation takes effect.
Appeal Against the Decision and Court Action
The party adversely affected by the decision may appeal to the Office within two months of notification; the grounds must also be submitted within that period, and no new grounds can be added once it has passed (Art. 20). The appeal is examined by the Re-examination and Evaluation Board (YİDK). The Board's decision can be challenged before the Ankara Civil Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights (Art. 156(2)); we explained how that stage works in our article on suing against a YİDK decision.
Fictional Example: Kavrak Makine
Fictional example: Kavrak Makine wants to file under the name "TORVEX" for agricultural machinery; the search shows the same name registered eight years ago in Classes 7 and 12 in the name of another company. The preliminary investigation shows the company sells only trailers in Class 12, with no trace in the agricultural machinery items.
Kavrak Makine requests revocation only for the agricultural machinery items in Class 7; it leaves the trailers alone. On the same day, it also files its own application to secure its date. The owner replies, using the extension, but cannot submit any dated invoice or catalog relating to agricultural machinery. The Office grants the request; the trailer items remain registered. Because the request was granted in full, the deposit is paid to Kavrak Makine upon request. Had the same request also covered the trailers and use been proven for those items, the deposit would have been recorded as Office revenue because of the partial grant.
Common Mistakes
- Counting the five years from the application date. The period runs from the registration date; a premature request is rejected without notification.
- Drafting the request too broadly. A request that also covers items clearly in use ends in partial grant, and the deposit cannot be recovered.
- Warning the other side in advance. Contact before filing creates a risk of "last-minute use"; the three-month rule may not catch every case.
- Putting off your own application. Revocation removes the obstacle but does not grant registration; secure your filing date separately.
- Ignoring the decision's effective date. If an earlier date is wanted, it must be stated expressly in the request.
When Preparing Your Request
With tight deadlines and high official fees, a revocation request is decided by its preparation. Under Webx's legal protection service, the preliminary investigation, the item-by-item scope of the request and the observations in response to the owner's reply are planned together. If you are unsure which option will get you past your obstacle, start with our article on the options when a similar trademark comes up.
Sources
- Legislation Information System — Industrial Property Law No. 6769 (SMK) (Arts. 9, 20, 26, 27, 156, 192, Provisional Art. 4)
- Official Gazette — Amendment to the Regulation on the Implementation of the Industrial Property Law (March 15, 2025) (Art. 30/A revocation request, Art. 30/B revocation fee and deposit, Art. 33 withdrawal)
- TÜRKPATENT — Trademark Fees (02.01.30 revocation fee, 02.01.31 deposit amount)
- TÜRKPATENT — Proof of Use Guidelines (genuine use and justified reason criteria)
