Opposing similar applications, defending against oppositions, and judicial enforcement when administrative remedies fall short.

A trademark is protected less by registration than by the timeliness of the response to what is aimed at it. Deadlines in this field are short and largely peremptory: if a similar application published in the Bulletin is not opposed within two months, it proceeds to registration, and achieving the same result afterwards costs several times as much.

This page covers three related needs: opposing someone else’s application, defending an opposition filed against you, and acting on infringement of a registered right.

Opposition: the two-month window

Applications that clear absolute grounds are published in the Official Trademark Bulletin. Third parties then have two months to oppose (Article 18). The period cannot be extended or restored. Miss it, and the only remaining route is an invalidity action after registration — considerably more expensive.

Opposition rests on the relative grounds in Article 6. The most frequently used are:

Likelihood of confusion — an identical or similar sign sought for identical or similar goods and services.
Prior use — rights acquired in the sign before the application date, even without registration.
Reputation — unfair advantage, detriment to repute or dilution, even across dissimilar goods.
Filing by a commercial agent or representative in their own name without the proprietor’s consent.
Unauthorised use of a personal name, portrait, copyright or other intellectual property right.
Bad faith — an application made in knowledge of your mark, to block you or to sell the mark back.

How the notice of opposition is built and which evidence works: opposing a published trademark. Proving bad faith: bad-faith applications.

How likelihood of confusion is assessed

Two axes are weighed together: similarity of the signs and similarity of the goods and services. Signs are compared visually, aurally and conceptually, and assessed as wholes rather than dissected into parts. For goods and services the class number is not decisive on its own — distribution channel, target consumer and complementarity all matter.

The two axes are interdependent: the closer the signs, the less distance in goods and services counts. A strong opposition sets out both axes separately and together; an assertion of similarity unsupported by evidence rarely succeeds.

If you are the one opposed: defences

Being opposed does not mean being refused. Several defences are available at the observations stage, some of them time-bound:

Request for proof of use. Where the mark relied on was registered at least five years before the application date, the opponent can be required to prove genuine use (Article 19/2). The Office does not raise this of its own motion — it is the most commonly missed defence in practice.
Absence of similarity. Showing that the overall impressions differ, that the shared element is a weak generic term in the sector, or that the relevant publics diverge.
Narrowing the specification. Removing the goods and services where the conflict concentrates can leave the opposition without object. A commercially acceptable narrowing usually beats a long dispute.
Consent or coexistence. A letter of consent from the earlier holder, or a coexistence agreement separating the fields of use.

A refusal is not final: the decision may be appealed to the Re-examination and Evaluation Board within two months, and the Board’s decision challenged before the Ankara IP Court. See my application was refused — what now?

Once registered: invalidity and revocation

If the opposition window was missed or the opposition failed, two routes remain against a registered mark, and they are often confused:

Invalidity. The mark should never have been registered; the court cancels it with retroactive effect. See trademark invalidity actions.
Revocation. The registration was valid but the mark has since gone unused or become generic; the effect runs forward. See revocation for non-use.

Acquiescence matters here: a proprietor who knowingly tolerates use of a later mark for five years may lose the right to seek invalidity. That is the legal price of "we will deal with it later".

Enforcement: administrative and judicial routes

The tools available against an infringing use depend on its gravity and on who the other side is:

Cease-and-desist letter — most disputes end here, without proceedings. It also documents bad faith and fixes a date.
Preliminary injunction — where continued infringement would cause harm that is hard to repair.
Actions for determination, cessation and prevention of infringement, with damages and an account of lost profit.
Criminal route — production and sale of counterfeits engage the offences under Article 30, prosecuted on complaint.
Customs seizure — a customs surveillance application to stop goods at import.
Platform complaints — for marketplace and social media infringement, the administrative route is usually fastest.

Types of action, competent court and limitation: trademark infringement litigation. For marketplaces and social media: e-commerce infringement complaints, Trendyol notices and social media infringement.

Why timing decides the outcome

Almost every right here runs on a calendar: two months to oppose, two months to appeal to the Board, two months to challenge the Board in court, five years before acquiescence bars invalidity, five years before non-use exposes a mark to revocation. What these share is that once they pass, the remedy is either gone or very expensive.

Watching the Bulletin is the first and cheapest link in that chain — that is what trademark watch is for.

The evidence file: what actually wins oppositions

Assertion is not enough in a notice of opposition; the assertion has to be documented. Reputation, prior use and bad faith all rest on evidence, and evidence accumulates over years rather than at the moment of need. Keeping a use archive is therefore work that starts long before any opposition.

Dated invoices and sales figures — showing which goods and services the mark was used for, and at what volume.
Advertising spend, media plans and social media reach reports.
Packaging, labels, catalogues and signage; printed material carrying dates.
Press coverage, trade publications and awards — the backbone of any reputation claim.
Domain registration dates, archived website captures and records evidencing first use.
Market share and consumer surveys: the strongest evidence of reputation, and the most expensive.

Dates are critical: an undated catalogue proves nothing about how long the mark has been in use. Equally, use in a form markedly different from the registered one may not count as use at all.

Frequently asked questions

I missed the opposition deadline — is there nothing to be done?

There is, but the instrument changes and the cost rises. After registration, invalidity is available, and revocation if the mark is unused. The price of delay is a multi-year action instead of an administrative filing.

How long does an opposition take?

Proceedings before the Office usually conclude within a few months to a year. Appeal and court stages can extend the total to several years.

Can I oppose on the basis of an unregistered mark?

Yes — prior use is a ground under Article 6. Everything then turns on evidence: you must show use predating the application, genuine and continuous, through invoices, advertising records and dated publications.

Is a cease-and-desist letter mandatory?

No; proceedings can be issued directly. But a letter resolves most files cheaply, weakens a good-faith defence, and fixes a date that helps on damages. Absent an urgent need for an injunction, it is usually the first step.

If you have spotted an application in the Bulletin or run into an infringement, contact us — the deadlines are short and acting early is decisive.

This page is general information and does not constitute legal advice. Deadlines vary by file; obtain an assessment of your own situation.