The revolutionary world created by the Internet has resulted in the dedication of a significant part of our practice to issues involving the application and protection of domain names.
We advise our clients on registration and protection strategies for domain names. The administration of the country code top level domain of “com.tr” is handled by the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Turkey. However, there is no arbitration mechanism in the settlement of disputes/conflicts in Turkey. Disputes of domain names are currently evaluated and settled by the DNS group, which is a counseling group established under METU consisting of 11 members of different related institutions.
Under the current practice, Turkish domain name applications which are not identical with the company name or are based on trademark applications (which have not yet matured into registration) are published in the website www.nic.tr for opposition purposes for a period of 6 months. Any claim by a third party able to evidence his right on the domain name is considered and the DNS group issues its decision on the opposition filed. It is however, also possible to file an opposition in Turkey after the registration and 6 months opposition period before METU.
Through our watching service it is possible to follow up the Turkish domain names in Turkey that have been published on the objection list for opposition purposes by third parties in order to prevent any possibility of infringement of our clients’ intellectual property rights in Turkey.
Please contact our office EFOR PATENT for the application of the top level domain name registrations and the dispute matters in Turkey with respect to Turkish domain names.
