Anti-Counterfeiting & Customs Enforcement

Counterfeit goods erode brand value, divert revenue and put consumers at risk. Türkiye sits on major trade routes between Europe and Asia, which makes the border a decisive line of defense for brand owners. Fakes that clear customs here can move on to the EU, the Gulf and beyond, so stopping a shipment at a Turkish port often protects several markets at once. We combine customs watch applications, civil litigation and IP criminal enforcement to stop counterfeits before and after they enter the market.

The Legal Framework

Industrial property rights in Türkiye are governed primarily by the Industrial Property Code (Law No. 6769), which covers trademarks, patents, designs and geographical indications. Geographical indications, in particular, are now protected under Law No. 6769 — the old Decree-Law No. 555 has been repealed — which matters for producers of regional and premium goods. Border enforcement is handled under the Customs Law (Law No. 4458) and its implementing regulation, which allow customs officers to detain goods suspected of infringing a registered right.

Two points matter for foreign brand owners:

• Enforcement depends on a valid registered right in Türkiye. Registering your trademark locally is the practical prerequisite for both border measures and criminal action.
• Rights are territorial. An international filing helps only if it has effect in Türkiye, typically through the Madrid System designation of Türkiye or a direct national registration with TÜRKPATENT.

What this means for you: if your brand sells or transits through Türkiye but you have never filed here, you have no enforceable rights yet — the first, cheapest and most decisive step is securing the registration before counterfeiters do.

Customs Watch Applications

The customs watch application is the front line of anti-counterfeiting. A rights holder files an application with the customs administration, identifying the protected rights, genuine product characteristics and known counterfeiting patterns. The stronger your product intelligence — packaging details, authorized importers, factory markings, price ranges — the more accurately officers can distinguish genuine goods from fakes. Once granted, the application instructs customs across all entry points to flag and detain suspect shipments.

Key features:

• Validity and renewal. An approved application is generally valid for one year and can be renewed on request. Keep a calendar reminder — a lapsed application means shipments pass unflagged.
• Detention on suspicion. Customs may suspend release of goods that appear to infringe, whether imported, exported or in transit.
• Perishable goods. Suspected perishable products receive special handling so they are preserved, or dealt with promptly, during the suspension period.

When customs detains a shipment, it notifies the rights holder. The rights holder then generally has ten working days to secure a court decision, such as a preliminary injunction, or to file suit. Missing that window can lead to release of the goods, so a prepared enforcement plan is essential.

A customs watch application is worthless without a response plan behind it. The ten-working-day clock starts the moment officers call — decide in advance who instructs counsel, who confirms the goods are fake and who funds the injunction, or the shipment walks free.

IP Criminal Enforcement

Trademark counterfeiting is not only a civil wrong in Türkiye. Under Law No. 6769, producing, offering, selling, importing or storing goods that infringe a registered trademark is a criminal offense, punishable by imprisonment and judicial fines.

Criminal enforcement typically runs as follows:

1. Criminal complaint. The rights holder files a complaint with the public prosecutor. Trademark infringement is prosecuted on complaint, so timely filing matters — let the deadline pass and the criminal route may close.
2. Search and seizure. The prosecutor, with judicial authorization, can order raids on warehouses, shops and production sites to seize counterfeit stock and equipment. A well-prepared complaint with concrete leads (addresses, storage locations, supplier links) makes a raid far more likely.
3. Prosecution. Cases proceed before the specialized intellectual and industrial property criminal courts in the main commercial centers, where judges handle IP matters routinely.

Evidence discipline decides these cases. Sample purchases should be documented through a notary or with time-stamped records, seized goods must be photographed and inventoried, and the chain from storefront to warehouse to supplier should be mapped before the complaint is filed. Prosecutors act faster on a dossier that already reads like an indictment.

Criminal action often delivers faster disruption of a counterfeiting operation than civil litigation alone, and the two tracks can run in parallel. A raid that empties a warehouse tends to change a counterfeiter’s economics overnight, while your civil claim continues in the background to recover damages and destroy remaining stock.

Civil Remedies and Online Enforcement

Alongside criminal action, rights holders can pursue civil claims for injunctions, destruction of goods, damages and publication of the judgment. Preliminary injunctions are a powerful tool to halt infringement quickly, and courts can order the destruction of both the goods and the equipment used to make them, so an operation cannot simply restart.

E-commerce has shifted much counterfeiting online. Rights holders can demand takedown of infringing listings from marketplaces operating in Türkiye and pursue the sellers behind them. Repeat sellers often reappear under new storefronts, so takedowns alone rarely end the problem.

Treat online takedowns as the first move, not the last. A listing removed today reappears next week under a new seller name — real deterrence comes from identifying the operator behind the storefronts and hitting them with civil and criminal action at the same time.

Coordinated action — combining platform notices, civil claims and criminal complaints — is usually the most effective response, because it closes the sales channel, drains the inventory and raises the personal cost to the people running the operation.

Enforcement track	What it does best	Typical tempo
Customs watch	Stops shipments at the border before they reach the market	Application processed within weeks; then passive and ongoing
Criminal complaint	Raids, seizures and personal pressure on the operators	Depends on the prosecutor’s timetable
Civil litigation	Injunctions, damages, destruction of goods and equipment	Injunction possible in days once goods are seized
Online takedown	Closes marketplace listings and storefronts quickly	Fast, but repeat sellers return without deeper action

---

Building an Enforcement Programme

Isolated seizures rarely solve a counterfeiting problem; a standing programme does. Effective brand owners treat enforcement as an ongoing cycle: register the marks that matter, keep the customs watch current, gather market and shipment intelligence, and act decisively when a target surfaces. Each seizure and raid produces evidence — suppliers, routes, storage sites — that feeds the next action. Over time this turns scattered wins into pressure that makes Türkiye an unattractive place to import or transit fakes of your brand.

What this means for you: budget enforcement as a recurring line item, not a one-off. The brands that suffer least are the ones with registrations, a live customs application and a rehearsed response plan already in place before the first shipment is caught.

How We Help

• Register and clear trademarks so enforcement rights exist in Türkiye.
• Prepare, file and renew customs watch applications and keep them current.
• Respond within statutory deadlines when customs detains a shipment.
• File criminal complaints and drive search-and-seizure operations.
• Litigate civil infringement claims and secure injunctions.
• Run online takedown and marketplace enforcement programs.

Brand protection in Türkiye works best as a coordinated strategy across the border, the courts and the internet. We build and run that strategy so your rights, and your customers, stay protected.