The distinctive signs used to distinguish a product from other similar products or a service from other similar services are called trademarks. A brand can consist of letters, numbers, shapes, words, and are used together during the presentation of the product or service.
In this respect, the brand is specific to the person or organization and should not be used by someone else with the same name or shape. Trademark protection is carried out for this purpose. Brand protection is carried out with the aim of protecting brand owners who produce products or services. For this purpose, trademark registration is carried out. Trademark registration is carried out for trademark owners to benefit from the protection provided by special law.
According to these legal regulations, if a trademark that has not been registered is used by another person and applied for registration, or even if it has been registered, the real owner of this trademark may object to the situation and request the cancellation of the registration process. Therefore, when choosing a brand for any product or service, it is important that the sign or expressions intended to be used as a brand are not used by someone else.
Relevant organizations pay attention to the identified brand and the products or services for which this brand will be registered, while making the trademark registration process. This trademark must not have been previously registered by others. Or, it must have features that can be distinguished from registered similar trademarks.
Another issue that should be taken into account by the persons or organizations that will register a trademark for products or services is that the protection to be provided by the registration process will be limited only to the trademark and the products and services that will bear this trademark.
For this reason, while preparing the list of products or services related to the brand, it is important that it is related to the actual activity. After the registration for the trademark, it is obligatory to use this trademark for the products and services shown in the list. However, in cases where the trademark is not used, the trademark can be canceled by filing a lawsuit.
With the trademark registration, a protection is provided for ten years. When the term expires, it can be extended for another ten years. However, if there is no renewal request within six months after the ten-year period expires, the brand will be dropped. In this case, the same brand may be purchased by other persons or organizations.
If a trademark is to be registered, a trademark search must be done. Because all trademarks are registered in the Turkish Patent Institute and it is not possible for a previously registered trademark to be registered for the second time on behalf of another person.
If an application is made for registration without a trademark search, it would be appropriate to conduct a trademark search at the very beginning, as the costs will be wasted. Various research organizations also provide brand research services among many research services. Trademark research is carried out through the records kept by the Turkish Patent Institute.
All trademarks are registered on the basis of the sector in the registry of the Institute and the research to be conducted is a specific research. Identifying brand classes and deciding on brand similarities is a specialist job. For this reason, it would be beneficial for the brand research to be done by experts in the subject.
If you want to get information about research services, please come to our company without wasting time. If you have a request for both information and brand research, our company is ready to provide all kinds of support in this regard.
