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Protection of Local and Globally Well-known Trademarks
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Att. Yesim Tokgoz
Trademarks are symbols that indicate capability to distinguish
goods and services of one undertaking from the goods and services of
other undertakings. Trademarks also allocate goods or services to an
enterprise, and remove the risk of confusion with other goods. Some
trademarks increase their economical value with their popularity creat-
ed for various reasons, such as their marketing politics, product range
etc. Turkish legislation and international regulations cover various pre-
cautions against unfair advantages sought by third persons who wish to
benefit from the reputation of the trademarks. In this article, the notion
of well-known trademarks, their protection methods and monopoly
rights of globally well-known trademarks without registration under
Decree-Law on the Protection of Trademarks numbered 556 (“Decree-
Law”) will be emphasized.
The Notion of Well-known Trademarks
Popularity appears differently within the scope of each case.
Therefore, the notion of well-known trademarks is not specifically
defined under Turkish trademarks legislation as it is not identified
through the international organizations. This mission is granted to
jurisdiction and doctrine. The World Intellectual Property Organization
(“WIPO”) prepared an advisory jurisdiction numbered A/34/13 to clar-
ify this notion, and determined various qualifications with respect to
the methods to identify a well-known trademark. These qualifications
are adopted by the Turkish Court of Cassation, as well. Within this
scope, the Court of Cassation, in its judgments, defined a well-known
trademark as “
the symbol that appears automatically in the minds of
people who are from same environment, and which closely depends on
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NEWSLETTER 2015
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Article of March 2015