ERDEM-NEWSLETTER-2018-metin

327 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW holder, and removes the trademark that was registered maliciously with the purpose of obtaining unjust benefit due to the trademark’s reputation 5 . Foreign Trademarks Not Registered in Turkey Trade does not have any national boundaries; however, the trade- mark laws’ protection is territorial. Therefore, this principle lends it- self to the abuse of trademarks that are not registered in Turkey. It may be the case that persons who would like to profit from the reputation or commercial success of foreign trademarks that have not yet been registered with the Turkish Patent directly, and/or through the Madrid Protocol, apply for registration in order to be the right holder within the territory of Turkey. As per the established decisions of the Court of Cassation, the protection granted for unregistered symbols, is granted to the trade- marks that are registered abroad, but not yet in Turkey, by the citizen of the countries that are parties to the international conventions, which Turkey executed 6 . Within this scope, the Court of Cassations states that the fundamental principle regarding the fight against bad faith shall be applicable under the trademark law, despite the territory and privilege in the application and registration principles. In addition, the Court of Cassation cites in its many decisions that due to current technological means, it is unacceptable to say that trademarks registered abroad are not known by persons who work in the same sector 7 . Moreover, bearing in mind the spreading speed of the information through the internet, it is now impossible to defend that people are unaware of trademarks in their sector that are launched to the market from elsewhere in the world. In light of the foregoing, the Court of Cassation accepts the existence of bad faith stating that persons who apply for registration of trademarks that are the same as, or similar to foreign trademarks, in the same good and service classes, 5 Decision of the 11th Chamber of Court of Cassation, 18.01.2018, No. 2016/5961 E. 2018/455 K. 6 Karahan, Sami : Tescilsiz Markanın Korunmasına Marufiyet Şartı, p. 19. 7 Decision of the 11th Chamber of Court of Cassation, 05.05.2014, No. 2013/11926 E. 2014/8450 K.