“Vindication for the Greek positions”, said Development Minister Takis Theodoricakos on the rejection, at second instance, of the Turkish appeal against the cancellation of the Turkaegean trademark.

On 16/7/2021, the Tourism Promotion and Development Agency of Turkey (TGA) filed for registration with the Intellectual Property Office of the E.U.E. The trademark “Turkaegean”.

The Industrial Property Organization (OVI) of the Ministry of Development, from May 2022, when it became the competent body in Greece for trademarks, took the initiative to coordinate and support all actions for the infringement of the above trademark by filing an application for its cancellation, in February 2023, before the competent Office of the European Commission.E.

The European Intellectual Property Office in January 2025 issued a decision cancelling and deleting the European Trademark “Turkaegean”. Against the decision, the Turkish side appealed to the competent Boards of Appeal-EUIPO.

The Board of Appeal has today rejected the Turkish appeal and upheld the cancellation and invalidation of “Turkaegean” as a European Trademark.

Development Minister Takis Theodoricakos said: “The decision of the competent body of the European Union (EUIPO) is a vindication of our national positions.

The European institutional order confirms, in a second instance, the obvious: the term ‘Turkaegean’ is deprived of any legal and commercial basis and is marginalised. This development has not come about by chance. It is the result of a long, systematic effort initiated by the Ministry of Development, in coordination with the Industrial Property Agency.

We countered with strong legal, historical and commercial arguments against the attempted misleading of consumers and geopolitical instrumentalization of trademarks.

Greece is proving in practice that it is a strong, serious country committed to international legitimacy.

Which effectively defends our national interests, our cultural and geographical identity, as well as the economic activity of our businesses with determination, methodicalness and the use of all legal means in all international fora.”