Parties in the supply chain for products which qualify as a registered geographical indication in Turkey are also entitled to use the indication for their own purposes, even if this intellectual property right is formally registered to another party. The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office has announced a time limit for supply chain parties to notify the registered owner about their use of the geographical indications.
Accordingly, parties which wish to use a registered geographical indication in this way must notify the registration holder within six months of the registration being published. The notification simply involves the supply chain party advising the registration owner about their intended use, rather than requests permission.
For geographical indications registered before 10 January 2017, supply chain parties should have notified the registration holder by 10 July 2017.
If supply chain parties plan to begin operations after the geographical indication is registered, the six-month notification period begins once operations have begun.
Parties which simply sell the goods are not required to make any notification in this respect.
Registration holders must keep a list of such entitled parties.
Please see this link for the full text of the announcement (only available in Turkish).
