Trademarks are among the important intangible values ??of commercial life. Today, it has become one of the most important weapons used to hold onto commercial life. Because trademarks play an extremely effective role in consumer ideas and orientations. Psychological satisfaction for some consumers and trademarks, which are ways of expressing themselves for some consumers, have taken their place among the indispensable values ??of economic life.
The fact that trademarks have such an important place in economic life has brought legal protection to trademarks that are an intangible value. One of these protection areas constitutes a regulation regarding the invalidity of the trademark in article 25 of the Industrial Property Code. Accordingly, the reasons stated in the article 5 and 6 of the same law constitute the reasons for invalidity.
As a rule, during the registration of the trademark, the reasons for absolute rejection in Article 5 are investigated by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, and the request for registration is rejected in case of contradiction to Article 5; However, in case the violation of absolute rejection causes is noticed later, it may be possible to open a case of invalidity. The relative reasons for rejection listed in Article 6 are the reasons for rejection that are not taken into account by the Office and will only be observed in case of objection by third parties. However, in order for an invalidity suit to be filed on the basis of relative rejection, it is not obligatory for anyone to file an appeal to the Office at the registration stage. In addition, despite the objection to the Office within the deadline, the person whose objection has been rejected can both file a lawsuit for the annulment of Commission for Review and Reevaluation decision and request the invalidity of the trademark.
The invalidity of the trademark will be decided by the court as stated in article 25 of the Industrial Property Code. For the invalidity of the trademark to be in question, the existence of a trademark protected by registration is required. Since the invalidity of an unregistered trademark cannot be considered, the invalidity case cannot be opened during the trademark application phase. For this reason, the invalidity lawsuit filed for the trademark at the application stage will face a rejection decision from the procedure.
The invalidity of the trademark lawsuit can be filed on its own, or it can be filed together with the cancellation of the decision of the Agency's Re-Review and Evaluation Department. On the other hand, if the cancellation of the decision of the Authority is requested and there is no demand for the decision of the invalidity of the brand, even if the trademark is registered at the same time, the invalidity of the brand cannot be decided, even if the cancellation of the BOT decision is decided in accordance with the principle of adherence.