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 Geographical indications, in particular, are now protected under Law No. 6769 (Article 191 repealed the old Decree-Law No. 555), which matters for producers of regional and premium goods. Border enforcement is handled under Article 57 of the Customs Law (Law No. 4458) and Articles 100-111 of the Customs Regulation, which allow customs to suspend clearance of, or detain, goods suspected of infringing intellectual and industrial property rights.
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Two points matter for foreign brand owners:
- Customs and criminal enforcement depend 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 registered right to enforce at customs or in criminal proceedings yet; the first, cheapest and most decisive step is securing the registration before counterfeiters do.
Counterfeits frequently copy a product’s shape rather than its mark, which engages the separate right addressed under industrial design protection. Where the shape was never registered, a right still exists for three years from first disclosure in Türkiye but bites only against copying (Law No. 6769 Arts. 55, 59 and 69), a distinction that decides most trade-fair seizures, and one we set out in unregistered design protection in Türkiye.
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 accepted, customs suspends clearance of, or detains, goods matching the application. A rights holder based abroad must act through a representative resident in Türkiye.
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Key features:
- Validity and renewal. You state the period in the application; it cannot exceed one year and the application can be renewed. 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. The period for showing an injunction is three working days and cannot be extended.
- Ex officio detention. Even without an application, customs may detain goods for three working days where there is clear evidence of infringement, so that the rights holder can file one (Customs Law Art. 57(1)(b)).
When customs detains a shipment, it notifies the rights holder. Within ten working days of that notification, the rights holder must file suit and obtain a preliminary injunction and show proof to customs; customs may extend the period by up to ten working days for a justified excuse. If the window is missed, the goods are processed under the regime the declarant requested, so a prepared enforcement plan is essential.
A customs watch application is worthless without a response plan behind it. The ten-working-day clock runs from the customs notification: 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 Article 30 of Law No. 6769, producing, offering, selling, importing, exporting, holding, transporting or storing goods that infringe another’s trademark by copying it or by confusingly imitating it is a criminal offense, punishable by one to three years’ imprisonment and a judicial fine of up to 20,000 days. A conviction requires the mark to be registered in Türkiye.
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Criminal enforcement typically runs as follows:
- Criminal complaint. The rights holder files a complaint with the public prosecutor. Trademark infringement is prosecuted on complaint, which must be filed within six months of learning of the act and the offender; after that no investigation can be opened.
- Search and seizure. On the prosecutor’s request a judge can order searches of warehouses, shops and production sites and the seizure of counterfeit stock and equipment; where delay would be harmful, the prosecutor’s written order suffices (Criminal Procedure Code Arts. 119 and 127). A well-prepared complaint with concrete leads (addresses, storage locations, supplier links) makes a raid far more likely.
- Prosecution. Cases are heard by the specialized intellectual and industrial property criminal courts; where none has been set up, a designated general criminal court of first instance hears them (Law No. 6769 Art. 156).
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 bring civil claims under Article 149 of Law No. 6769 to stop the infringement, recover material and moral damages, seize infringing goods and the devices used exclusively to make them, have them altered or, where unavoidable, destroyed, and publish the final judgment. A preliminary injunction under Article 159 can stop the infringement and order seizure of the goods wherever they are, including customs areas and free zones, so an operation cannot simply restart. Lost profits are calculated under Article 151, using the method the rights holder chooses.
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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. Under Article 9(3) of Law No. 6563 the marketplace must take the listing down on a documented complaint, but republishes it if the seller files a documented objection. Repeat sellers often reappear under new storefronts, so takedowns alone rarely end the problem. The notice route itself, and the duties the marketplace owes on both sides of it, sit in the e-commerce legislation; see our e-commerce and marketplace law page.
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 | Decision within thirty working days; then passive for up to one year |
| 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 | At the border, suit and injunction within ten working days of notification |
| 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.
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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 pursue search-and-seizure requests through the prosecutor.
- Litigate civil infringement claims and secure injunctions.
- Run online takedown and marketplace enforcement programs.
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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.
Related Practice Areas & Strategic Legal Guides
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- Real Estate & Property Law: Title deed due diligence, foreign property acquisitions, and Land Registry (TKGM) transfers.
- Intellectual Property & Trademark Litigation: Trademark, patent, and copyright enforcement before TÜRKPATENT and IP Courts.
- Personal Data Protection (KVKK/GDPR): VERBİS registration, data inventory mapping, and cross-border data transfer compliance.
- Legal Matters in Istanbul for Foreign Clients and Companies: Full-service commercial and civil advocacy before Istanbul courthouses.
