Trademark infringement acts and acts that do not constitute trademark infringement

The Code on Industrial Property No. 6769 has introduced innovations in terms of the acts that infringe trademark rights and the exercise of the trademark rights. In this study, we examined the trademark infringement acts and acts that do not constitute trademark infringement in Turkish trademark law. In this review, the provisions of the Code were analyzed comparatively with the provisions of repealed Decree Law No. 556. The principles adopted by the European Court of Justice and the Swiss Federal Court are addressed. Among the acts of trademark infringement that are newly introduced by the Code are the use of the sign as a trade name or business name and the use of the mark in comparative advertisements that are not lawful. Another innovation is the provision that a trademark, patent or design right holder cannot assert its industrial property right as a defense against a trademark infringement case filed by a trademark owner with a date prior to his / her right. On the other hand, there are new restrictions on the use of trademark right with Code. For example, the defendant of the infringement case has been granted the right to defend the case against the non-use of the trademark, which was shown as the ground of the case and has been registered for 5 years. Another innovation is the fact that the principle of "loss of rights due to remaining silent for a long time" is regulated in terms of nullity cases.