In short
The question of when proof of use is requested in a trademark opposition opens if five years have passed since registration of the earlier mark. The five years are the period of genuine use in Article 26 of Law No. 6769. This text reads that period as a defence inside the opposition. Cancellation of a mark that is not used is a separate door, and it is not rewritten here. A new year of non-use is not added.
Proof stays inside the opposition
The request is discussed in the opposition file, and for the goods the opposition rests on. Use must be genuine for that good or service. A sign that appears once in a catalogue is not counted as use for every good. Which day will be the basis is read from the registration and application dates. This text does not invent a new day. If the register shows the registration date of the earlier mark, the five years are read from that date. While there is no register, the period is not completed from here.
If use is not shown, the opposition is left without a basis as to the goods that could not be shown. If there is use for some of the goods, the opposition is debated as limited to that part. A justified reason can be raised. Justified reasons are not catalogued here. An invoice can show that the sale relates to that good. An invoice does not give rise, of its own accord, to a decision of use for a good that is not counted. If the document does not write which good is meant, a sentence of genuine use is not built. Service shows by which writing the request for proof was asked. While there is no service, a reply day is not added from here.
A cancellation petition is not this defence
Cancellation for non-use is a separate route that goes to the Office to have a registered mark struck. Proof of use in an opposition debates whether the opposition will be heard, without opening that route. The two are not the same petition because they rest on the same period. The petition tells the request in the opposition file. The petition does not produce a cancellation decision that erases the mark from the register. If the applicant requests this proof before the five years have ended, the request does not open the same door. The question whether the period has ended is read from the registration and application dates.
Invalidity is not the name of this defence either. Invalidity looks at grounds of refusal and to the court. Use being asked in the opposition file does not erase the mark from the register. A minute or a catalogue can be placed beside the document of use. The minute does not of itself come to mean that the cancellation route has opened. A contract can show a dealership or distribution relationship. A contract is not counted as proof of use for every class of goods. The decision is not built before it is written which goods the document in hand covers.
The document of use should show the same good as the application that is opposed. An invoice for another good is not counted as genuine use for the good that is the subject of the opposition. If the date does not fall in the period after registration, that document does not enter the five years of its own accord. The five years are the period written in the file. Another year is not placed beside it. A dealer list, if there is no document of sale, is not genuine use by itself. The list can be placed beside the invoice. If there is an export document, which good went out should be written. If there is no name of the good, the document is not treated as used for every class. As to a good for which proof was not requested, the opposition is not narrowed by this request. Narrowing is discussed for the goods that could not be shown. If there are no dates, it is not said that the five years have ended. A single image in a catalogue does not take the place of the invoice.
The Çankaya address does not choose the period
An Ankara lawyer who asks whether proof will be requested does not change the competent authority from the address of the office in Çankaya. The district name is not written in place of the registration date or of the Office. The competent place is read from the opposition file’s own rule. The door of the office is not treated as having changed the five-year period.
How proof is read from the file
If the registration, the application, and the documents of use are standing, the file is read from there. A new year is not added beside the five-year period written in the file. A request for proof is not counted as a cancellation decision.
Conclusion
Proof of use is a defence requested in an opposition based on an earlier mark whose five-year period has ended. The period is the period of genuine use in Article 26 of the Act. The cancellation route is in the article on an unused mark. The distinction between invalidity and cancellation is in the article on invalidity and cancellation. The steps of an opposition are under a trademark opposition, and the establishment of registration is under trademark registration. The frame is on the intellectual property page. The official basis is the Industrial Property Code No. 6769.