Newsletter-21

354 NEWSLETTER 2016 Bill regulating the relative grounds for registration of a trademark, the applications for the trademarks of well-known trademarks according to 6bis of the Paris Convention that has identical or similar goods and services may be refused upon opposition. The above-stated regula- tion that is currently covered under the title of ‘absolute grounds’ in Decree-Law No. 556 is put under the title of ‘relative grounds’ in ac- cordance with the EU and in international practice. Pursuant to the Bill, any opposition to the registration of a trade- mark published in the Bulletin shall be submitted by the relevant persons within two months as of the publication of the application. It might be said that the registration period is intended to be shortened by means of decreasing the opposition period from three months to two months. Article 189 of the Bill specifies the repeal of trademarks by the Turkish Patent Institute (“TPI”) that shall enter into force seven years after the publication of the Industrial Property Law. In accordance with such regulation, if, within a period of five years following the registration, the trademark has not been put to use in Turkey without a justifiable reason, or if the use has been suspended during an uninter- rupted period of five years, the trademark shall be repealed. Also, if a trademark becomes a commonly used name for the goods and services that the trademark is registered with as a result of its right holder not taking the necessary precautions if a trademark that is of such a nature so as to deceive the public, such as to the nature, quality, place of production or geographical origin, in the event of misuse against the guaranteed trademark or common trademark technic specification, such trademark shall be repealed. As per Article 14 of the Bill, an international application rendered within the scope of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Trademarks shall have the same results as the application that has been made directly to the TPI.