ERDEM-NEWSLETTER-2018-metin

316 NEWSLETTER 2018 Coexistence Agreements* Att. Ozgur Kocabasoglu Generally, an agreement regarding the use of the same or similar trademarks, in the same or in similar markets by two trademark holders, is referred to as a coexistence agreement. Whilst the aforementioned agreement is not specifically regulated under Turkish industrial prop- erty laws, with the “letter of consent” application brought in Article 5, paragraph 3, of Industrial Property Law No. 6769 (“IPL”), which entered into force on 10 January 2017, regulating the absolute grounds for refusal of registration of trademarks, allows for the registration of the same or similar trademarks, for the same or similar goods or services, on behalf of two different enterprises, by the letter of consent given by the registered trademark holder, within the scope of coexis- tence agreements. In which Circumstances can a Coexistence Agreement be concluded? According to the definition of the International Trademark As- sociation (INTA ) 1 , a coexistence agreement is “an agreement by two or more persons that similar marks can co-exist without any likeli - hood of confusion ; allows the parties to set rules by which the marks can peacefully co-exist. To use the same mark in connection with the same or similar goods or services, usually limited by geographic boundaries” 2 . Based on this definition, a coexistence agreement can be a solution, (i) if the trademark application of a party affects the business development of the counter party, (ii) if there is a chance that the trademarks of the competitors that are active in the same market can create confusion for the consumers, (iii) if the group companies seek to benefit from the parent company’s trademark portfolio, or (iv) * Article of December 2018 1 https://www.inta.org/About/Pages/Overview.aspx, (Access date: 02.01.2019). 2 https://www.inta.org/TrademarkBasics/Pages/glossary.aspx , (Access date: 02.01.2019).