Intellectual property · Legal information

What Happens If a Trade Name and a Trademark Conflict?

Author · Av. Ayşenur Konar, Avukat

Published ·

In short

A trade name is the name that identifies the merchant on the trade register. A trademark is the sign that distinguishes goods or services in the market. Even if the two carry the same word, they are not a single right. Registration of the trade name does not stand in for the trademark certificate. Trademark registration does not erase the trade name from the trade register either, and the two records do not write each other's judgment. If the word conflicts, the two registers are read apart. The rights do not join in a single sentence of action, and a result is not spoken while the gazette notice and the registration certificate do not stand side by side. Which register the application papers went to is not announced before the trade-register entry and the trademark certificate are seen separately.

The trade name shows the merchant, the mark the goods

The trade name shows the merchant on the invoice, the signboard, and the trade-register entry, and this record does not choose the sign that will be used on the goods. A trademark stands as a distinctive sign on the product or the service. It remains limited to the list of goods, and the trade name on the signboard does not fill that list. Ordinary use on the signboard is not always treated as trademark infringement, because the name on the door identifies the merchant, while the sign on the packaging distinguishes the goods or the service. Even if the trade name written on the invoice and the sign printed on the cover carry the same word, their functions stay apart, and one does not produce the other's registration result.

The same word is not the same action

The same word standing both in the trade name and in the trademark does not melt the two rights into one action, and the court reads each record from its own document. One is the name on the trade register. The other is the sign on the registration certificate, and these two records are not treated as the same petition. If the use has become a sign of the goods or the service, the examination stands apart in what can be done in trademark infringement and in protection of the trade name. Even if both rights are mentioned in the petition, the register entry does not stand in for the trademark judgment, and the registration certificate is not treated as having erased the trade name from the register.

The condition of unfair competition is not copied

Friction between a trade name and a trademark may also come onto the agenda as unfair competition, but the conditions of that action are in the unfair competition text, and the elements are not rebuilt here. Even if the two doors are open on the same day, one does not complete the other's petition by itself, and a period is not carried into this body either. The Industrial Property Code No. 6769 regulates the trademark. The register entry of the trade name is read from the trade register. The confusion and honesty side of a competition claim is read from that separate text.

The signboard and the product sign do not mix

The trade name on the signboard announces the merchant at the door of the business, and this use does not by itself turn into trademark use on the product packaging. If on the packaging, the label, or the service presentation the sign comes forward like the name of the goods, the trade-name defence stays silent, and the photograph and the invoice are read in the same file. In the concrete event, which surface was used is not closed before the order papers and the list of goods on the registration certificate are set side by side. That the sign stands only on the door does not mean it was used like a trademark on every sale of the goods, and not every invoice has proved this use.

The register and the certificate stand side by side

A decision is not given while the register gazette and the trademark certificate are not side by side, and if the application papers are incomplete it is not drawn which right was put forward. That the office is in Çankaya does not change the competent court in a trade-name or trademark action. The province where the register is does not by itself build the jurisdiction of the trademark action either. How registration works is in the account of trademark registration. The whole of the frame sits on the intellectual property law page. If the set of documents is not complete, the door of the conflict is not treated as chosen.

Conclusion

The trade name distinguishes the merchant. The trademark distinguishes the goods or the service, and the same word does not join the two registers. The condition of unfair competition is in a separate article. It is not built in this body, and the two rights are not fitted into a single sentence of judgment. Without the register entry and the registration certificate, it is not said through which door the conflict will go, and a gazette notice does not close this lack. If the application papers do not stand, similarity of the word does not by itself produce a result. The two registers are not melted in a single decision text, and a right is not announced with incomplete papers.

Legislation

Frequently asked questions

Does registration of a trade name stand in for a trademark certificate?

It does not. The trade name is the merchant's name on the trade register. A trademark is a sign for goods or services. One being registered does not make the other registered by itself.

Is using the trade name on a signboard always trademark infringement?

No. Ordinary use of the trade name and use of the sign on the goods are read apart. Use that has become a product sign is taken up in the trademark-infringement article.

Is an unfair-competition action built on this page?

No. The conditions of unfair competition are in a separate article. A conflict of trade name and trademark may bring that action onto the agenda. The conditions are not rewritten here.

Related reading

This article sits under one practice area. The neighbouring guides carry the detail that does not belong in this text.

Practice areas · Intellectual property

Sources

AK

Author

Av. Ayşenur Konar

Lawyer on the Ankara Bar Association roll, founder of Konar Hukuk. This text is general information; a specific file is reviewed separately. Author profile · Editorial policy

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