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CategoryE-Commerce & IP
Published28 August 2026
Authors
Uğurcan TekinPartner
Şevval Ezgi DemirAttorney at Law

Trademark Protection on E-Commerce Platforms: From Complaint Mechanisms to the Power of Registration

A business seeking to protect its brand today should look first not at the shops on the high street but at the product listings on e-commerce platforms. Counterfeit sales, fake storefronts and advertising under someone else's mark now occur predominantly online. The same channels, however, offer rights holders complaint mechanisms through which results can be obtained without going to court.

Two legal layers underpin this picture. The first is the set of prohibition rights the Industrial Property Code No. 6769 grants the trademark owner, covering use of the sign in the course of trade, offering counterfeit goods for sale and use in advertising. The second is the e-commerce legislation governing the legal position of the platforms themselves.

The first line of the fight against counterfeits now runs through the platforms' own complaint mechanisms.

The Position of the Intermediary Service Provider

E-commerce platforms are, in legal terms, intermediary service providers. The Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce imposes on intermediary service providers an obligation to remove content that infringes intellectual and industrial property rights upon complaint. In other words, upon a duly submitted complaint by the rights holder, the platform must act. This mechanism operates far faster than court proceedings and can cut off the economic effect of the infringement at an early stage.

The practical key to the complaint mechanism is the registration certificate. Platforms verify the complainant's ownership, as a rule, against registration records. Complaints based on unregistered use, however meritorious, usually go nowhere in platform procedures. For any brand active in e-commerce, registration in the classes it actually trades in has therefore become the precondition for using these mechanisms at all.

Brand Registry Programmes

A substantial number of global platforms run brand registry programmes for rights holders. Admission is, as a rule, conditional on the mark being registered in the relevant country. Enrolled owners can file infringement notices through accelerated channels, access proactive protection tools and obtain stronger control over listings. A trademark registered in Türkiye constitutes a usable basis for these programmes as well.

“In e-commerce, an unregistered trademark is a shop window without a lock.”

When the Complaint Is Not Enough: Legal Remedies

In-platform mechanisms do not resolve every infringement. Where a complaint is rejected, the seller relists the content, or the infringement spreads beyond the platform, the owner retains the classic tools of the Industrial Property Code: cease-and-desist letters, preliminary injunctions, and actions for determination and prevention of infringement and for damages. Platform complaint records serve as valuable evidence in those actions, showing the duration of the infringement and the seller's bad faith. Running the complaint process on a documented basis from the outset also builds the evidentiary foundation of any later lawsuit.

Key Principles

  • Intermediary service providers are obliged to remove infringing content upon complaint in intellectual and industrial property matters.
  • The de facto precondition of platform complaint mechanisms is a registered trademark right.
  • Brand registry programmes offer registered owners accelerated protection tools.
  • Where in-platform mechanisms fall short, the court remedies of the Industrial Property Code come into play.
  • Documenting the complaint process builds the evidence base of a potential lawsuit.

Devin Patent provides attorney services for building registration strategies for brands active in e-commerce and managing the trademark portfolios that underpin platform complaints. The litigation stage of platform disputes is handled by our partner firm, Devin Law & IP.

Sources

  • Industrial Property Code No. 6769, Articles 7 and 29 (mevzuat.gov.tr)
  • Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce (mevzuat.gov.tr)
Related practice areaIndustrial Property Law→

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