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(d) trademarks which exclusively and substantially include symbols or
names which are under common use in the field of commerce and used to
distinguish the members of a specific group of professions, crafts or trades;
(e) symbols, which include the shape of a good originating from its
nature, or which are to be used to obtain a technical result, or which give
substantial value to the good;
(f) trademarks which are likely to mislead the public as to the quality,
characteristic, production site or geographical origin of the good or
service;
(g) trademarks which are not permitted for use by the relevant
authorities and, accordingly are to be rejected under Article 6 ter of the
Paris Convention;
(h) trademarks which include armorial bearings, emblems or marks
not covered by Article 6 ter of the Paris Convention, but are historically
and culturally in the public interest;
(i) trademarks, which are well-known pursuant to Article 6 bis of the
Paris Convention and which are not permitted for use by their proprietor;
(j) trademarks which include religious symbols;
(k) trademarks which are contrary to the public order and general
rules of morality.
If a trademark is used before the registration date and therefore, has
gained a distinctive feature, then the registration will not be prohibited in
accordance with the subparagraphs (a), (c) and (d).”
The TPI, when considering applications within the scope of Article
7 of the Decree Law, also takes into account the “trademark decision
criteria”, designated for providing the uniqueness of the decisions and to
be updated at various time intervals.
The limited content of the trademark decision criteria to be taken into
account by the TPI is as follows.
•
Slogans:
Slogans will be deemed distinctive if their registration is not
prohibited under the provisions of Article 7, if they are not
descriptive of the goods or services, if they do not define quality,
and if the essential elements of the slogans are not identical or