Administrative Trademark Revocation: Where Things Stand

How the Process Developed

Article 26 of Industrial Property Code no. 6769 (the “IPC”) provides that, upon request, the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (the “Office”) may decide to revoke a trademark, while Article 192 provides that this administrative revocation provision would enter into force seven years after publication.

Within that framework, revocation requests through the administrative route became possible before the Office as of 10 January 2024. However, because the regulation governing the new rules had not yet entered into force, the first requests were initially examined as “preliminary requests”. Preliminary requests in that period were accepted by filling in a form and were not subject to any fee.

On 15 March 2025, the Regulation Amending the Regulation on the Implementation of the Industrial Property Code (the “Regulation”) was issued, and a number of question marks were answered, at least in part.

The first grey area to emerge under the Regulation concerns which unit will examine revocation requests.

It has been shared that training for examiners dedicated specifically to revocation proceedings is currently being carried out within the Office, in the interests of an efficient process.

Filing for Administrative Revocation, and What to Watch For

1. The request is first made by completing a form and stating in that form which ground of revocation is relied on.

Warning: information and documents not submitted at this stage may not be raised later in proceedings brought before the courts either.

For that reason, in revocation requests through the administrative route, all evidence, documents and supporting material held must be submitted. Otherwise, no new information or document may be put forward at a possible litigation stage.

2. Applications found formally deficient are granted a one-month extension. Applicants may request a further one month in addition. (That is, a 1+1 month extension is possible.)

If the formal deficiency is not remedied, the request will be rejected; the applicant’s escrow fee is refunded, while the Office fee already paid is not refunded.*

3. Following the formal examination, a preliminary examination is carried out as to the conditions of the revocation request. It is considered whether the requesting party holds a registered trademark, and whether the trademark whose revocation is sought can be the subject of the request on the relevant ground (for example, the criterion of five years of uninterrupted use).

4. If the examination satisfies all criteria, the Office will send a notice to the proprietor of the trademark subject to the revocation request.

For an example of a revocation for non-use request, this notice will ask the proprietor to submit evidence of genuine and uninterrupted use in Türkiye over five years, in the classes of goods and services for which the mark is registered, or, if it has not been used, to submit proper reasons for non-use.

Note: a dedicated examination unit is expected to be established at this stage for reviewing documents and giving an opinion.

5. The Office will issue its decision. An appeal against that decision is possible within two months.

Where the decision is appealed, the resulting Board decision is final for the administrative stage, and an action for annulment of the decision may be brought against the Board decision before the Ankara Civil Courts for Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights.

As a rule, revocation decisions take effect from the date on which the revocation request was submitted to the Office. However, under Article 27/2 of the IPC, where the grounds for revocation arose at an earlier date, it may be decided upon request that the revocation decision takes effect from that earlier date.

Fees

There are two fees in the administrative revocation process:

(1) Office fee: the fee paid for a request made to the Office.

(2) Escrow fee (emanet ücreti): a procedural fee resembling a security deposit, for which there is as yet no precedent.

If the revocation request is found justified and accepted, the escrow fee is refunded to the requesting party.

If the revocation request is not found justified and is rejected, the escrow fee is given to the proprietor of the trademark subject to revocation.

Where the revocation request is partly rejected and partly accepted, the escrow fee is left with the Office.

If the deficiency is not remedied within the one-month (and +1 month) extensions granted for formal deficiencies in the request, the escrow fee is refunded to the requesting party.

The process of releasing the escrow fee to the entitled party is not run ex officio. From the final decision onwards, the party entitled to the escrow fee must claim it within ten years. Otherwise it remains with the Office.

Note: in practice, fee notifications are being issued together with the Regulation in respect of form applications that were submitted to the Office as preliminary requests under the statutory provision before the Regulation entered into force, and for which no fee had been paid.

Withdrawing a Revocation Request

The party making the revocation request may withdraw it, but withdrawal is no longer possible once the Office has issued its final decision.

If the withdrawal is to be made by a trademark attorney, the power of attorney must expressly include authority to that effect, and must have been submitted to the Office.

When a revocation request is withdrawn, the escrow fee is refunded to the requesting party, while the Office fee remains with the Office and is not refunded.

On another period in which a trademark portfolio needs reviewing: A Critical Period for UK Trademark Registrations.

Sources and Acknowledgements

• Av. Pakize Kocaman Aşa
• Industrial Property Examiner, Turkish Patent and Trademark Office
• Istanbul Bar Association, Intellectual and Industrial Rights Commission
• The IPC
• The Regulation