Trademark Infringement Claims and Damages in Türkiye
Date Published
When a Turkish registered mark is used without permission, three complementary tools are available: civil action, criminal complaint and interim relief. The right strategy usually deploys them together rather than in sequence.
Civil remedies
- A declaration that the acts constitute infringement.
- Prevention and cessation of the use.
- Seizure and, where appropriate, destruction of infringing goods, packaging and production equipment.
- Damages: actual loss, lost profit, moral damages and, in qualifying cases, damage to reputation.
- Publication of the judgment at the infringer’s expense.
Three statutory methods for lost profit
Turkish law lets the right holder choose between the income the proprietor would probably have earned but for the infringement, the net profit the infringer actually made, and the royalty that would have been payable under a lawful licence. The choice frequently decides the value of the case, so gathering data on the infringer’s trading volume before filing is strategically important.
Speed matters more than damages
Interim injunctions halt sales while the case runs, and evidence-preservation orders matter because online evidence disappears quickly. For marketplace listings, the platform complaint route is far faster than court.
See our article on marketplace takedowns.
Criminal exposure
Producing, offering or selling goods that infringe a registered mark carries imprisonment and a judicial fine under Article 30, prosecuted on complaint. Note the limit: criminal protection applies to registered marks only — one more concrete value of registration.
Contact us if your mark is being infringed.
General information only, not legal advice.