In our previous article, we provided information on the significant changes that entered into force as of 1 January 2026 within the scope of the 13th Edition of the Nice Classification of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and noted that while these changes had not yet been reflected in Turkish domestic law, certain updates had begun to appear in practice within the Electronic Application System (EPATS) of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TPTO).
These changes have now been officially adopted under Turkish law with the publication of the Communiqué on the Classification of Goods and Services for Trademark Registration Applications (TPTO: 2026/2) (the “Communiqué”) by TPTO in the Official Gazette No. 33180 dated 26 February 2026.
The Communiqué, prepared on the basis of the Industrial Property Law No. 6769, establishes the Goods and Services Classification List to be used in trademark registration applications filed with TPTO in accordance with the Nice Classification arranged pursuant to the provisions of the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, and sets out the principles relating to this list.
With the Communiqué, the 13th Edition of the Nice Classification has been officially adapted into Turkish domestic law. Accordingly, all class updates, including in particular the following changes, must now be taken into account in trademark registration applications filed with TPTO:
- The goods “brake linings” listed in Class 7 have been amended to “brake pads”.
- The goods “clutch linings for machines and engines other than for land vehicles” have been added to Class 7.
- The goods “3D glasses” have been added to the second sub-class of Class 9.
- The goods “swimming goggles, protective goggles” have been added to the eighth sub-class of Class 9.
- The goods “spectacles, sunglasses, lenses and their cases, covers, parts and accessories” have been transferred from Class 9 to Class 10.
- The thirteenth sub-class of Class 9 relating to fire extinguishing apparatus has been amended to “fire-extinguishing instruments and apparatus (including fire hoses)” and “fire-fighting vehicles and fire-fighting valves” have been removed from Class 9.
- The goods “nozzles attached to taps” listed under Class 21 have been added to the seventh sub-class of Class 11.
- The goods “electrically heated socks” have been transferred from Class 11 to Class 25.
- The goods “clutch linings for land vehicles” have been added to Class 12.
- The goods “fire-fighting vehicles for use on land, at sea and in the air” have been removed from Class 9 and added to Class 12.
- The goods “spray nozzles for hoses” listed under Class 21 have been added to the third sub-class of Class 17.
- The goods “heads for watering filters, watering instruments, garden watering filters” listed under Class 21 have been amended to “plant watering cans and heads, filters and spray nozzles therefor”.
- The first and second sub-classes of Class 41 have been merged and now read “education and training services, life coaching (training) services, organization and management of symposiums, conferences, congresses and seminars”.
The Communiqué was published in the Official Gazette on 26 February 2026 and entered into force on the same date. However, the aforementioned changes had already been reflected in practice within the TPTO trademark application system for some time, and applicants had begun filing their trademark applications in accordance with these changes.
In this regard, TPTO has stated that the amendments required to bring trademark applications filed as of 1 January 2026 into compliance with the Communiqué will be carried out ex officio by TPTO without any fee being charged.
On the other hand, according to the information shared by TURKPATENT no automatic reclassification will be applied to applications filed or registrations completed prior to 1 January 2026. In this respect, the provision set forth in Article 11/4 of the Industrial Property Code, which states that “The fact that goods or services are classified in the same class shall not constitute a presumption that they are similar, and the fact that they are classified in different classes shall not constitute a presumption that they are not similar” gains particular significance.
Indeed, pursuant to this provision, for example, where spectacles are registered under Class 9 in an earlier trademark, and the same goods are sought to be registered under Class 10 in a subsequent application, the assessment of whether the goods are identical or similar shall be made independently of the classes in which they are registered. Therefore, in order to properly assess the impact of classification changes on the scope of trademark protection, it is of great importance that trademark owners and applicants focus not merely on class numbers but on the actual content of the goods and services.
In light of the foregoing, it is also of great importance that trademark owners, when conducting searches in relation to applications they wish to oppose, do not limit themselves to a class-based examination but carry out a comprehensive search on the basis of the goods and services for which the mark is sought to be registered.
Finally, given that no automatic reclassification is envisaged for trademarks registered prior to 1 January 2026, it is advisable for trademark owners to review their existing portfolios and consider aligning their registrations with the updated classification system in order to ensure more comprehensive protection.
