Geographical Indication

Geographical Indications in Turkiye

Geographical indications are protected under Turkish Industrial Property (IP) Law No. 6769 in Turkiye. They may be registered in two ways as protected designation of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indication (PGI).

  1. Protected designation of origin (PDO)

    Protected designation of origin defines the products which originate from a region, territory or exceptionally a country, take its all or main features from natural and human elements special to this geographical area, whose production, processing and all other activities occur within the borders of this geographical area.

    The products which have a protected designation of origin are produced only in the geographical region they belong to. Because the product can gain its quality only if it is produced within the region it belongs to.

  2. Protected geographical indication (PGI)

    Protected geographical indication defines the products which originate from a region, territory or a country wherein its geographical borders are determined, identify with this geographical area in terms of a specific quality, reputation or other properties, wherein at least one of its production, processing and other activities are performed within the borders of this determined geographical area.

    For protected geographical indications, it is possible that the product is able to be produced also outside of the region, however at least one property of the product should belong to that region.

    In production, the production methods which belong to that geographical region should be used exactly in the same way and the quality of the product should be the same.

⮚ Our related services:

  • - Filing your national geographical indication applications and registrations before TurkPatent
  • - Preparing and filing oppositions / opinions
  • - Filing amendment requests in applications and registrations
  • - Preparing reports for use in legal procedures
  • - Filing 3rd party opinions about any invalidity
  • - Publication tracking and reporting
  • - Support for preparing control reports and / or filing control reports
  • - Other operations related to geographical indication

EMBLEMS

Tescilli Coğrafi İşaret
  • Inform consumers
  • Make controlling activities easier
  • It is not mandatory to use emblems for the geographical indications belonging to foreign countries supposed to be protected in Turkiye within the scope of the conventions which Turkiye is a party to.

WHO CAN APPLY?

  1. Manufacturer groups
  2. State institutions and organizations related to the product or the geographical area where the product originates from
  3. Professional organizations with state institution status
  4. Associations, foundations and cooperatives authorized to work for public benefits or to protect the economic interests of its members in relation to the product.
  5. If there is only one manufacturer for the product, the manufacturer with the condition that it is proved.

WHO CAN USE AND HOW CAN IT BE USED?

  • It can be used not only by one manufacturer, but also by all people who produce or put the product on the market according to the conditions specified in the registration certificate.
  • These people shall notify the registrant that they perform production or marketing activities related to the geographical indication.
  • The responsibility of the applicant is to follow the registration procedures, to provide the control activities to be performed. Namely, the registration does not provide the applicant with an exclusive (or monopoly) right.

THE RIGHTS PROVIDED BY REGISTRATION

  • The right takes effect as of the date of the publication of the registration in the bulletin.
  • It can be prevented by the Court upon request that the emblems are used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly on the products which do not have the properties of the product specified in the registration, in the way that they may benefit from its reputation, or it may be associated to the products within the scope of the registration.
  • It can be prevented by the Court upon request that any wrong or misleading explanation or indication is placed regarding the registered natural or main quality and properties and the origin of the product at the inner or outer package of the product on which the registration is present, in its introduction and commercial or in any written document related to the product.
  • It can be requested to prevent the registered emblem from being used by the right holders in a misleading way for consumers.

APPLICATION/REGISTRATION PROCEDURE

  1. Applications of geographical indications are evaluated by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.
  2. The office examines applications formally and substantially. If there is any formal deficiency, it should be corrected within 3 months from the notification date. If not corrected, the application will be rejected. If there is any substantial deficiency, additional time can be requested maximum of 2 times. If all deficiencies are corrected within these periods, 3rd step below is processed.
  3. If necessary, TurkPatent requests opinions from one or several institutions or organizations expert in the field.
  4. The applications meeting the conditions specified in the Turkish Industrial Property (IP) Law No. 6769 shall be published in the Bulletin for 3 months.
  5. If there is no opposition or if there is any opposition rejected or the application is amended as a result of any opposition, the registration fee should be paid within 2 months from the notification date of the registration decision.
  6. The registration is recorded into the register and the registration information is published in the Bulletin.
  7. After the registration, there cannot be any oppositions, only invalidity can be requested from the court.

THE SCOPE OF CONTROL

  • The products which have a registered geographical indication may be controlled in production, placement on the market or distribution phases.
  • When the product is on the market, it is controlled whether its use complies with the properties specified in the registration.
  • It is controlled whether use of the emblem is appropriate.
  • The control authority continuously controls the production processes.
  • Collaborations may be made with the expert and objective institutions or organizations related to the matter.
  • The market control is performed by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock independently from the control authority.
  • The control reports regarding the use of the geographical indication have to be presented to the Office every year.
  • In case any deficiency is detected in the control activities presented to the Office, this deficiency is notified to the registrant, and it has to be completed within six months.
  • In case that the control activities are not performed according to the specified conditions, or the deficiencies are not completed within given period, the registered geographical indication may be invalidated.

AMENDMENT REQUESTS IN THE APPLICATION AND REGISTRATION

  • In case any change takes place in the properties of the registered geographical indication because of climate change, technological improvements and new methods for production etc., amendment requests can be filed by beneficiaries before the Office.
  • In case the person requesting amendment is not the registrant, the Office informs the registrant before publishing the amendment in the Bulletin and asks them to file their opinion within one month from the notification date, if any.
  • After the amendment is published in the Bulletin, the registrant may duly file an opposition. The Office asks the registrant to make necessary provisions for applying the amendment by those concerned in case the amendment becomes absolute.
  • It is mandatory to file the amendment request with a signed amendment form filled in the electronic environment by the applicant or the registrant before the Office.

INVALIDITY AND CESSATION OF RIGHTS

  • Geographical indications are not registered for a certain period. Therefore; there is not any renewal needed to be filed.
  • Although registrations are made without time limitation, in certain cases the protection may cease.
  • Cessation is possible if invalidity of the registration is decided by the court.
  • Invalidity of the registrations which does not comply with the definition of geographical indication, the geographical indications registered by those who do not have a right to apply or the registrations which are not appropriate in terms of application requirements may be requested from the court.
  • Also, in case control activities are not performed enough or as specified, invalidity of these registrations may be decided.