NEWSLETTER-2019-metin

263 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW Absolute Grounds for Refusal in Trademark Registration* Att. Zeynep Ezgi Yanarateş According to Article 16 of the Industrial Property Code (“IPC”) numbered 6769, which was entered into force on January 10, 2017, when the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (“Office”) decides that an application has no formal deficiencies, it will examine the applica- tion in accordance with Article 5 of the IPC with the title, ‘Absolute grounds for refusal in trademark registration’. While trademark applications are examined by the Office ex of- ficio in terms of the absolute grounds for refusal, third parties may also claim that there has been a violation of the absolute grounds for refusal during the objection process to the publication of the application. The Office published the Trademark Examination Guideline (“Guideline”) on September 30, 2019, and defined the examination principles related to absolute grounds for refusal. Below, Article 5 of the IPC that is related to the absolute grounds for refusal is reviewed in detail. Article 5/1-a of the IPC regulates that signs that may not be ac- cepted as trademarks, according to Article 4 of the IPC, shall not be registered as trademarks. According toArticle 4 of the IPC, a sign must satisfy three conditions: i) It has to be a sign; ii) It must be capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings; and iii) It must be capable of being represented on the register in a manner to determine the clear and precise subject matter of the protection afforded to its proprietor. Therefore, for example, since it is not possible to represent smells and tastes on the register with today’s technology, trademark applica- * Article of November2019