"Phaselis Princess Hotel " vs. "HP Hotel Princess"

Supreme Court of Appeal, 11^st Civil Department

Case No.: 2005/11027

Decision No.: 2007/2538

Date: 08.02.2007

Related Law/Article: Decree Law No. 556 Pertaining to Protection of Trademarks/Article 8 

“PHASELIS PRINCESS HOTEL”  VS.  “HP HOTEL PRINCESS”

·         SIMILARITY BETWEEN TRADEMARKS

·         CONFUSION BETWEEN TRADEMARKS

·         DECLARATORY ACTION

·         WELL KNOWN TRADEMARK 

BÜYÜK OTEL FASELİS TURİSTİK İŞLETMELER VE TİCARET ANONİM ŞİRKETİ, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit before Ankara Civil Court of Intellectual and Property Rights against the decision dated 01.11.1999 of the Turkish Trademarks Office (TTO) accepting the appeal from Özkanlar A.Ş., the holder of the registered trademark “HP Hotel Princess” filed against the first decision of the TTO rejecting the opposition from the said trademark holder against the trademark application “Phaselis Princess Hotel” of the plaintiff.

Besides, the plaintiff also filed a second lawsuit against Özkanlar A.Ş. requesting that there is not a similarity and likelihood of confusion between the trademarks “HP Hotel Princess” and “Phaselis Princess Hotel” be determined, which was then combined with the lawsuit filed against the TTO.

TTO Representative, the defendant claimed that there is a similarity between the two trademarks in the framework of the Article 8/1-b of the Decree Law No. 556, that this would lead to confusion of the said trademarks and that the decision taken by the TTO is in compliance with the law; and requested that the case be dismissed.

Özkanlar A.Ş., the defendant requested that the case be dismissed.

The Court ruled that both of the cases be dismissed, since there is a lack of the documents showing the usage of the plaintiff’s trademark before 17.11.1999 and thus the plaintiff has no title to any industrial right before its trademark application dated 22.08.1995; and the trademarks of the plaintiff and the defendant are not well known marks.

The plaintiff appealed to the decision.

Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that the decision of Ankara Civil Court of Intellectual and Property Rights is in compliance with the law and rejected the appeal.