A domain name is often the first and most valuable point of contact between a business and its customers. When someone else registers, hijacks, or trades on a name that belongs to your brand, the damage to reputation and revenue can be immediate: traffic is siphoned to a competitor, customers land on a parked page full of ads, or a squatter demands a five-figure sum to hand the name back. Türkiye offers two distinct routes for resolving these conflicts, depending on the extension involved, and choosing the right one is the first strategic decision in any case.
What Counts as a Domain Name Dispute
A dispute arises whenever there is a conflict over the right to hold or use a particular domain. The most common scenarios are:
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- Cybersquatting: registering a domain that matches a known brand in order to sell it back or divert traffic.
- Trademark infringement: a domain that copies or closely imitates a mark protected under trademark registration and litigation (governed by the broader intellectual property regime).
- Trade name and unfair competition conflicts: use of a company name or a confusingly similar variant under unfair competition law.
- Typosquatting: deliberate misspellings that capture mistyped consumer traffic.
- Former partners and ex-employees: a distributor, franchisee, or departing manager who registered the domain in their own name and refuses to return it (often intertwined with commercial contract disputes).
In each case the underlying question is the same: who has the superior legal right to the name, and was the registration made in good faith. That question of good or bad faith runs through every procedure described below.
Two Systems: “.tr” Domains and Global Domains
The correct procedure depends entirely on the extension. Getting this wrong wastes fees and time, so it is worth being precise from the outset.
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”.tr” domains: handled through TRABIS
Türkiye’s country-code domains (“.com.tr”, “.org.tr”, “.gen.tr” and similar) are administered through TRABIS (the “.tr” Network Information System), which the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA / BTK) is responsible for establishing and operating under the Internet Domain Names Regulation. With TRABIS going live in 2022, management of “.tr” names moved from the Middle East Technical University’s nic.tr to the ICTA. Under the Regulation most names, including “.com.tr”, are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis without documents, while listed sub-domains such as “.av.tr”, “.edu.tr”, “.gov.tr” and “.k12.tr” require supporting documents (Article 8 and the Annex); the plain “a.tr” structure is also available (Article 5).
Disputes over “.tr” names can be brought before Dispute Resolution Service Providers (Uyuşmazlık Çözüm Hizmet Sağlayıcıları, UÇHS) authorised by the ICTA, under Articles 23-27 of the Regulation and the ICTA Communiqué on the Dispute Resolution Mechanism for Internet Domain Names. The Regulation calls this an alternative dispute resolution mechanism: it runs alongside the courts rather than replacing them.
Global domains: handled through UDRP
Domains ending in “.com”, “.net”, “.org” and other generic top-level domains fall outside the Turkish system. These are governed by ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP), administered by ICANN-approved providers such as WIPO and the Forum (formerly the National Arbitration Forum). A Turkish business whose brand is taken on a “.com” can pursue its remedy through UDRP on an international basis, regardless of where the squatter is located. As a rule, the proceeding runs in the language of the domain’s registration agreement unless the parties agree otherwise or the panel decides differently.
| Route | Covers | Decider | Remedies | Time limits (per the rules) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TRABIS / UÇHS | ”.tr” domains | Single arbitrator or three-member panel | Transfer or cancellation | Response 10 days, decision 15 days (before extensions) |
| UDRP | ”.com”, “.net”, “.org” and other gTLDs | Provider panel (e.g. WIPO, Forum) | Transfer or cancellation | Response 20 days, decision 14 days after panel appointment |
| Civil IP Courts | Any domain harming rights in Türkiye | Civil IP Court judge | Injunctions, damages, binding findings | No statutory time limit; depends on the case |
If a squatter has grabbed both the “.com.tr” and the “.com” of your brand, you are looking at two separate cases in two separate systems. Coordinating them under one strategy (same evidence bundle, aligned arguments, consistent timing) is what keeps the cost and effort proportionate.
The Three-Part Test
Both systems use a three-part test, but the wording differs. Under Article 25 of the Regulation, a “.tr” complainant must establish that:
- The domain is identical or similar to a trademark, trade name, business name or other distinctive sign that the complainant owns or uses in trade;
- The current holder has no legal right or connection relating to the domain; and
- The domain was registered or is used in bad faith.
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UDRP (Policy, paragraph 4(a)) requires that the domain is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights, that the holder has no rights or legitimate interests in it, and that it was both registered and is being used in bad faith. A trade name on its own is therefore not a UDRP basis, while it can support a “.tr” complaint.
Meeting all three limbs is essential. A registration that predates the complainant’s rights, a genuine descriptive use, or a holder who is actually known by that name can each defeat a claim. This is why the strength of your underlying trademark (its registration date, its scope, and how well documented your prior use is) usually decides the case before the arbitrator even weighs bad faith.
What “bad faith” looks like in practice
Bad faith is rarely admitted, so it is proven by inference. For “.tr” names, Article 19 of the Communiqué lists circumstances treated as bad faith: registering the domain to sell or transfer it to the sign owner or its competitor for more than the documented registration and investment costs; registering it to prevent the owner from using its mark, name or sign in a domain; registering it mainly to harm a competitor’s business; or using it for commercial gain to divert internet users by creating confusion with the complainant’s sign. The list is not exhaustive, and UDRP contains a comparable non-exhaustive list. Screenshots, WHOIS history, and the correspondence trail are the evidence that carries these arguments.
One practical warning: never make an unguarded purchase offer to the squatter before taking advice. A poorly worded approach can be turned around and cited as evidence that you accepted the holder’s legitimacy, and it tips them off to strengthen their position (moving the site behind a functioning storefront, for example) before your complaint lands. Any pre-filing contact should be made deliberately, in writing, and with the eventual evidentiary record in mind.
How the “.tr” Procedure Works
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- Complaint: the applicant files on the chosen UÇHS’s website, identifying the disputed domain, the requested remedy (cancellation or transfer), supporting evidence and reasons of no more than 5,000 words, its choice of one or three arbitrators, and whether it has applied to another UÇHS or a court on the same matter (Communiqué, Article 7). The UÇHS gives five days to remedy any deficiency.
- Freeze: once the complaint is accepted, the UÇHS notifies TRABIS and the registrar and the domain is frozen for the duration of the dispute (Articles 7(9) and 16).
- Response: the holder has 10 days from receiving the complaint to respond, with an extension of up to 10 days on request; if it does not respond, the case is decided on the complainant’s evidence (Article 9).
- Appointment: a single arbitrator if the parties agree; a three-member panel if either party asks for one (Article 11).
- Decision: within 15 days after the response stage, extendable by up to 5 days (Article 14); the arbitrator or panel orders cancellation, transfer to the complainant, or rejects the complaint (Regulation, Article 27). The decision is implemented unless, within ten business days of its service, the UÇHS is notified of a court interim injunction on the matter (Communiqué, Article 15).
The process is deliberately swift and document-based. Arbitrators work on the file, and the parties are not heard in person unless this is considered necessary (Regulation, Article 26(3)); the case is won or lost on the quality of the written submission and the exhibits attached to it, which makes the initial filing the single most important step. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the language of the procedure is Turkish (Communiqué, Article 18).
Court Action as an Alternative or Complement
Registry-level procedures are not the only route. Under Article 7(3)(d) of the Industrial Property Code No. 6769, a trademark owner can prohibit the use in trade of an identical or similar sign as a domain name in a way that creates a commercial effect, where the user has no right or legitimate connection to the sign. Such claims are heard by the Civil Courts for Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights, or by the civil court of first instance where no IP court has been set up (Article 156), and the unfair competition provisions of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 may also apply. Litigation is the appropriate path where you also seek an injunction, damages, or a binding court finding, remedies that the arbitration route alone cannot deliver.
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Arbitration deals with the name; the courts deal with the loss. If the conduct has cost you real money, the two routes can be run together rather than treated as an either-or choice.
A common sequence is to use the UÇHS route first to secure the name, then assess whether the harm justifies a follow-on damages claim in court. Because a court can also grant an interim injunction (Article 159), litigation is sometimes the better first move where the squatter is actively causing loss. A court interim injunction notified to the UÇHS within ten business days of the arbitral decision’s service also suspends implementation of that decision until the court case ends.
Practical Guidance for Brand Owners
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- Register defensively. Secure the “.tr” and “.com” versions of your core brand, and obvious misspellings, before a competitor or squatter does. Renewal reminders should be automated, because a lapsed name can be suspended and then reopened for allocation to others.
- Protect the trademark first. A registered Turkish mark is the strongest foundation for a domain claim, and it also anchors related enforcement across marketplaces and social media.
- Preserve evidence early. Take dated screenshots of the offending site and save WHOIS records the moment you spot the problem; squatters change parking pages once they sense a complaint coming.
- Act without delay. Waiting lets evidence disappear and gives the holder time to build an apparent legitimate use.
- Choose the right forum. The extension dictates whether a UÇHS, UDRP, or the courts is the correct venue.
We advise clients on which route fits the case, prepare and file the complaint with a fully evidenced submission, and pursue parallel court action where injunctions or damages are warranted.
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.
