ERDEM-NEWSLETTER-2018-metin

322 NEWSLETTER 2018 detrimental, or there is a possibility that it may be detrimental to its distinctive character, or iii) reputation of the registered trademark. Determination of the Sameness and Similarity at the Time of the Registration The determination of sameness and similarity of an application with a trademark registered earlier is absolute grounds for refusal pur- suant to Article 5.1.ç of Intellectual Property Law No. 6769 (“IPL”). Within this scope, the Turkish Patent and Trademark Institution (“TPTI”) publishes the applications that are not the same, or similar to, the trademarks registered earlier. The rightholders who believe that their trademark and their goods or services class are same, or similar to, those that have just been published, are entitled to object to the registry of the published trademark in line with the relative grounds for refusal, pursuant toArticle 6.1 of the IPL. In this manner, the likeli- hood of confusion is disposed of from the very beginning. Furthermore, the rightholders whose trademarks are internation- ally well-known within the scope of the first bis of Article 6 of the Paris Convention, are entitled to apply this relative ground of refusal for those publications that belong to the same or similar goods or ser- vices class, even though their trademarks are not registered in Turkey. In addition, upon the existence of one of i, ii, iii conditions that are mentioned in the previous section, well-known trademark holders whose marks are already registered in Turkey, are entitled to object to the applications that have the likelihood of confusion, even though the publications belong to other goods or services class, pursuant to Article 6.5. Remedies for Removal of the Confusion Removal of the Trespass Causing confusion is deemed as trespass of trademark rights. Rightholders are entitled to prevent the usage of a symbol that is used in the same or similar goods or services class, and which has the likeli- hood of confusion, including even the possibility to be associated with