I Registered My Company Name — Is My Brand Protected?

Short answer: no. Registering your company with the commercial register does not protect that name as a trademark. A trade name and a trademark are separate rights, governed by different statutes and kept in different registers. Confusing the two is one of the most expensive mistakes made in the Turkish market.

Two registers, two functions

• A trade name identifies the merchant. It is governed by the Turkish Commercial Code and entered in the commercial register.
• A trademark distinguishes the goods and services of one undertaking from those of another. It is governed by the Industrial Property Code and registered with TÜRKPATENT.

Put simply: the trade name says who you are, the trademark says what you sell. Even when both contain the same word, they do not carry the same protection.

The real risk: someone else registers the core word

A third party may have registered the core word of your trade name as a trademark. If that happens, using your own company name on your products can be met with an infringement claim, and you may have to change packaging, signage and digital assets you have relied on for years. Whether your long-standing use qualifies as trademark use, and whether it gives you any priority, raises evidentiary questions that call for professional assessment.

Turkish case law has moved in the same direction. In a 2023 decision, the Court of Cassation’s Assembly of Civil Chambers confirmed that infringement does not require the trade name to be used strictly as a trademark; it is enough that the functions of the earlier mark are liable to be harmed.

Domain names and social handles are not rights either

Owning a domain or a social media handle creates no trademark right. The reverse also holds: a registration does not automatically transfer a domain to you — but it is the strongest basis you can have in domain disputes and platform enforcement procedures.

The right order

Search the trademark register first, incorporate second, file the trademark third. Reversing that order is how businesses end up rebranding packaging, signage and digital assets years into trading.

See our clearance search service or the full registration guide.

This article is general information and not legal advice. Conflicts between trade names and trademarks turn on use dates and fields of activity and require case-by-case assessment.