88 “Identity or Similarity of Goods of Services” Under The Industrial Property Code No. 6769 A. Importance of Determining Identity or Similarity of Goods/ Services Pursuant to the trademark legislation, significance is attributed to the situation where an application is filed for an identical/similar sign for identical/similar goods/services as a trademark that has previously been applied for or registered by someone else. This matter has been addressed within the scope of both Article 5/1-ç, which is an absolute ground for refusal, and Article 6/1, which is a relative ground for refusal, of the IPC. In accordance with Article 5/1-ç of the IPC, trademarks that consist of “identical or indistinguishably similar signs to trademarks that have been registered or applied for registration for the same or similar goods or services” will be rejected ex-officio by TURKPATENT. The legislator has regulated the refusal of applications that contain signs identical or indistinguishably similar to trademarks owned by earlier applicants and covering identical or similar goods/services. In this case, when a trademark application is submitted to TURKPATENT, the examiner that is responsible for conducting the examination of absolute grounds for refusal will need to determine whether the goods or services are identical or of the same type. The first paragraph of Article 6 of the IPC, which regulates the grounds for opposition against the publication of a trademark application, states that; “If a trademark application is likely to be confused with a registered or previously applied-for trademark due to its identity or similarity to such trademark and identity or similarity of the goods or services covered, including the likelihood of association by the public with the registered or previously applied-for trademark, the application shall be refused upon opposition.” In accordance with this provision, the rejection of a trademark application will only occur if, upon opposition, it is determined that the goods or services are identical or similar provided that other conditions are also met. The determination of similarity of goods/services is also significant for the fundamental aspects of trademark law, namely invalidity
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