US embassy cable - 03ANKARA7792

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 ANKARA 007792 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EB/TPP/MTA/IPC, EUR/SE 
DEPT PASS USTR FOR LISA ERRION/BRIAN PECK 
DEPT PASS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
DEPT PASS USPTO FOR ELAINE WU/MICHAEL SMITH 
DEPT PASS FDA 
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/DDEFALCO 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, KIPR, TU 
SUBJECT:  UPDATE ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUES: 
COPYRIGHT LAW AND ENFORCEMENT 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
 
1. (U) THE CULTURE MINISTRY IS CONSIDERING AN ARRAY OF 
LEGAL AMENDMENTS AND OTHER MEASURES AIMED AT COMBATING 
COPYRIGHT PIRACY, INCLUDING A BAN ON STREET SALES OF 
CULTURAL MATERIALS AND EMPOWERING THE POLICE TO ENFORCE 
COPYRIGHT WITHOUT SPECIFIC PROMPTS FROM RIGHTHOLDERS. 
THE MINISTRY REITERATED ITS INTENTION TO JOIN THE WIPO 
INTERNET TREATIES, MAINTAINING THAT EXISTING COPYRIGHT 
LEGISLATION IS ALREADY CONSISTENT WITH THE TREATIES' 
HIGH STANDARDS.  MANY OF THESE MEASURES HAVE BEEN UNDER 
CONSIDERATION FOR SIX MONTHS, AND IT NOT CLEAR WHEN AND 
TO WHAT DEGREE THEY WILL BE IMPLEMENTED.  THE JUSTICE 
MINISTRY TOLD US THAT IT HAS ASSIGNED NEWLY-TRAINED 
JUDGES TO SPECIALIZED IPR COURTS, BUT BELIEVES FURTHER 
TRAINING WOULD BE USEFUL IN COMBATING PIRACY.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
 
NEW ANTI-PIRACY MEASURES UNDER CONSIDERATION 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
 
2. (SBU) Culture and Tourism Ministry Undersecretary 
Mustafa Isen told Econ Counselor on November 18 that 
Ministry officials had been consulting with industry 
associations over the last six months to develop new 
methods of combating copyright piracy.  The Ministry had 
decided to take a number of measures, including a ban on 
street sales of "cultural materials" and making piracy a 
public crime, e.g. empowering the police to take 
enforcement action without a specific complaint from the 
rightholder.  Isen predicted that Parliament could act 
on draft legislation as soon as the end of 2003. 
 
 
3. (U) Diren Cakmak, of the Culture and Tourism 
Ministry, was to make a presentation on copyright 
protection in Turkey at the December Economic 
Partnership Commission (EPC) meeting in Washington, but 
time constraints did not permit her to do so.  She 
passed a copy of the presentation, reproduced in para 6, 
to Econoff during the EPC.  The presentation elaborates 
on Turkish legislation and on new enforcement measures 
under consideration.  It claims a decrease in piracy 
rates since 2001, when the copyright law was last 
amended.  The Ministry supports Turkish accession to the 
WIPO Copyright and WIPO Performances and Phonograms 
Treaties, but maintains that existing copyright law 
fully implement the treaties.  Note:  The International 
Intellectual Property Alliance does not share this view, 
and believes amendments are needed to specifically 
outlaw circumvention of technical measures to prevent 
copying.  End Note.  Turkey completed domestic 
procedures to bring the Berne and Rome Agreements into 
force in October 2003. 
 
 
4. (SBU) The new laws and enforcement measures under 
consideration include:  a ban on street sales of 
"intellectual and artistic works"; a bill to empower the 
police to confiscate pirated goods; a bill to classify 
unauthorized duplicating and dissemination of copyright 
materials as an organized crime; eliminating 
nondeterrent penalties in the Cinema Law; introducing 
more differentiated penalties for piracy; use of 
standard codes, such as SID Codes, to control copies of 
copyright material; licensing places which duplicate, 
disseminate or sell copyright materials; a public 
education campaign.  In a followup discussion on 
December 17, Cakmak told us that the Culture Ministry is 
still consulting with the private sector on these 
changes and that none has as yet been implemented. 
 
 
5. (U) In a December 17 meeting, Ayse Saadet Arikan, 
Director General for the EU at the Justice Ministry, 
told us that IPR training for judges and other officials 
is an important factor in improving enforcement.  A 
group of eight judges completed a yearlong training 
program in Europe and have now been assigned to 
specialized IPR courts in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. 
She said that further training would be very helpful in 
upgrading the competency of judges in this area. 
 
 
6. (SBU) Begin Text Culture and Tourism Ministry 
Presentation: 
 
 
GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF COPYRIGHT AND CINEMA 
 
 
"FIELD OF COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS" 
 
 
represented by DIREN CAKMAK 
 
 
December 2003 
 
 
In the fast-moving global economy of the 21st century, 
the importance of copyright and related rights in 
business life is increasing constantly. It is known that 
respect for copyright and related rights is of benefit 
not only to creators but to society as a whole. 
Countries which convert their creative resources into 
economic assets are capable of generating wealth. 
Therefore the legislative arrangements realized in the 
past and the legislative arrangements and 
implementations that will be realized in near future 
by Ministry of Culture and Tourism  in the field of 
copyright and related rights will lead Turkey toward 
effective participation in the global economy. 
In Turkey, arrangements related to moral and financial 
rights of authors of intellectual and artistic works 
and  criminal sanctions to be forced in the case of 
infringement thereof are stated within the scope of Law 
no. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works dated 1951. 
So far three amendments have been made within the law 
concerned. Last amendment was made with the Law no. 4630 
in the year 2001.  The Law on Intellectual and Artistic 
Works complies with EU Council Directives, Bern and Rome 
Conventions, WIPO Copyright and WIPO Performances and 
Phonograms Treaties and TRIPS Agreement. 
 
 
Possible questions and replies are listed below: 
 
 
Question:  Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works needs 
further amendment with respect to copyright in the 
information society, sui generis database protection,, 
artists' resale rights and rental rights. 
 
 
Reply:  *The Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works will 
be amended, studies on Draft Bill has not yet finished 
but with this amendment it is aimed; 
-- to provide sui generis protection for databases 
-- to make responsible both service and content 
providers of the transmission of copyrighted works 
through Internet without consent of right holder, 
-- to provide giving shares from the sale values of fine 
arts. 
 
 
*The decree on giving shares from the sale values of 
fine arts will be in force as soon as possible. 
 
 
*The principles related with the applications regarding 
artists' resale and rental rights will be determined by 
the regulation to be in force as soon as possible. 
 
 
Question:  The process of accession to the WIPO 
Copyright Treaty and WIPO Performances and Phonograms 
Treaty is still pending. The same applies to the Rome 
and Bern Agreements which were ratified in 1996  but 
never published in the Turkish Official Gazette. 
 
 
Reply:  *The Bern and Rome Agreements were published in 
the Turkish Official Gazette in October 2003. 
 
 
*Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works is in full 
compliance with the WIPO Copyright Treaty and WIPO 
Performances and Phonograms Treaty and it is aimed to be 
party to the WIPO Copyrights Treaty and WIPO 
Performances and Phonograms Treaty as soon as possible. 
 
 
Question:  Piracy and counterfeiting remains a serious 
problem in Turkey 
 
 
Reply:  *Level of piracy and infringement in 
intellectual and artistic works is declining. 
 
 
*Piracy Levels In Intellectual and Artistic Works 
Sectors Before and After 2001 (Sector, Percent Before 
2001, Percent After 2001) 
(Last amendment in Law on Intellectual and Artistic 
Works was made in the year 2001) 
 
 
CINEMA 85 40 
MUSIC 65 35 
SOFTWARE 95 50 
BOOK 50 40 
 
 
*Ministry of Culture and Tourism combats with piracy in 
a consistent and strong manner. Therefore within the 
framework of combat with piracy, it is aimed to make 
legal arrangements in the Law on Municipality, Law on 
Municipality Revenue, Law on Combat with Smuggling, Law 
on Rights and Duties of the Police Officials, Law on 
Combat with Organizations of Organized Crime, Law on 
Cinema, Video and Musical Works; 
 
 
1-With the legal arrangement that  will be made in the 
Law on Municipality and Law on Municipality Revenue; it 
is aimed to ban the sale of intellectual and artistic 
works on the streets. 
 
 
2-With the legal arrangement that will be made in the 
Law on Combat with Smuggling; it is aimed to stop the 
exportation and importation of  the pirated copies of 
intellectual and artistic works. 
 
 
3-With the legal arrangement that will be made in the 
Law on Rights and Duties of the Police Officials; it is 
aimed to make police officials take action  by 
confiscating the pirated copies of intellectual and 
artistic works and sending them to the public prosecutor 
with the notice of crime. 
 
 
4-With the legal arrangement that will be made in the 
Law on Combat with Organizations of Organized Crime; it 
is aimed to name to duplicate and disseminate  the 
copies of intellectual and artistic works without the 
consent of the right owner as organized crime. 
 
 
5-With the legal arrangement that will be made in the 
Law on Cinema, Video and Musical Works; it is aimed to 
abolish the provisions of ineffective penalties which 
are far away from being deterrent. 
 
 
*Moreover, Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works will 
be amended, studies on Draft Bill has not yet finished 
but with this amendment it is aimed; 
-- to make compulsory the usage of international 
standard codes such as SID Code or ISRC or ISBN etc. for 
copies of intellectual and artistic works. 
-- to create a system of applicable penalties such as 
stepped penalties. 
-- to control the places which duplicate or disseminate 
or distribute or sell the copies of  intellectual and 
artistic works by classifying and  giving  them 
certificates and inspecting these places frequently. 
-- to revise the existing registration system which is 
still applied to the cinematographic and musical works. 
It is planned that all the forms and documents used 
during the registration will be rearranged and the 
registration system will be planned in terms of the 
direct right ownership. 
-- to form the on-demand registration system in other 
intellectual and artistic work groups. With this system, 
all the information related to the works and to the 
authority of usage of financial rights of authors and 
other right owners will be taken under registration in 
detail. 
 
 
Question:  The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism 
established enforcement committees in all 81 provinces 
of Turkey in 2002. But the fight against piracy is still 
not effective as suggested by the high level of 
infringements and the low number of court cases and 
sanctions applied to offenders. 
 
 
Reply:  *Anti-piracy inspection commissions detected 
great number of pirated materials including tangible 
copies  of entertainment and business software, 
cinematographic and musical works and books in the year 
2003 and also  hundreds of  people have been prosecuted. 
 
 
*Anti-piracy inspection commissions perform their 
inspections during daylight and after working hours such 
as at midnight. It is aimed; 
-- to overcome the need for financial resources such as 
technical equipment, office rents, expenses of 
inspection etc. paying special attendance to the cities 
where piracy is widespread. 
-- to establish a Provincial Inspection Coordination 
Unit in which the representatives of cinema, music, 
software and publication sectors are included as well as 
the representatives of Ministry of Culture and Tourism 
and the collecting societies. 
-- to provide cooperation and instant information access 
by developing the software used and spread the usage of 
this software in the cities. 
 
 
Question:  Administrative capacity should be 
strengthened with  more inter-institutional co-operation 
between Ministry of Culture and Tourism  and other 
ministries and  the judiciary. 
 
 
Reply:  *Besides the participation of the Ministry of 
Culture and Tourism, the regular participation of 
representatives of Ministry of Internal Affairs, 
Ministry of Finance and collecting societies to the 
inspections of   anti-piracy inspection commissions is 
necessary. Therefore it is aimed to accelerate 
coordination and communication between Ministry of 
Culture and other ministries and collecting societies in 
order to combat with piracy. 
 
 
*Turkish people generally find unfair that the judiciary 
charge both fine and prison penalties in all  cases of 
infringement and piracy. So it is planned; 
-- to adopt the physical piracy as public crime. 
-- to differentiate the end seller and producer of 
pirated goods  and charge different penalties according 
to the feature of the crime. 
-- to differentiate the crime for the first time  and 
the repetition of the crime in the scope of charging 
penalties. 
-- to create a system of applicable penalties such as 
stepped penalties. 
 
 
Question:  The awareness raising campaigns in the field 
of copyright and related rights have not led to any 
significant visibility or impact. 
 
 
Reply:  Regarding that it is necessary to inform the 
public opinion about the importance of copyright and 
related rights; 
-- Ministry of Culture and Tourism has prepared several 
spot movies within the framework of combating against 
piracy. These movies are shown in TV channels and in 
cinema saloons. 
-- Several meetings realized by Ministry of Culture and 
Tourism with the title of combating against piracy in 
which representatives of collecting societies and 
related sectors attended. 
-- Ministry of Culture and Tourism continues to support 
the infrastructure and technical equipment projects and 
to strengthen the collecting societies by means of 
administrative, financial and legal ways. 
-- It is aimed to continue the studies to inform 
judicial milieu. 
-- Ministry of Culture and Tourism will get into contact 
with Ministry of  National Education to make students 
celebrate World Intellectual Property Day on every 26 
April. 
-- Ministry of Culture is planning to have prepared 
entertainment software for the children within the 
framework of combating against piracy. 
-- A campaign named "Respect to Copyright and Related 
Rights" will be started as soon as possible. With this 
campaign, it is planned; 
-- to organize "No to consume pirated copies of 
intellectual and artistic works" concerts. 
-- to make famous artists, musicians, novelists, 
columnists etc. give speeches to people in public places 
in 81 provinces within the framework of consumption 
of original copies of intellectual and artistic works. 
 
 
Question:  Establishment of an institute in the field of 
copyright and related rights. 
 
 
Reply:  Sectors of intellectual and artistic works 
supported in the past and they still support the 
establishment of an institute, either dependent to the 
Ministry of Culture and Tourism or independent, in the 
field of copyright and related rights.  Establishment of 
this institute will be reconsidered after the studies in 
restructuring the state are finished. 
 
 
Establishment of an environment in which the respect to 
copyright and related rights is provided forms the 
essence to capture the value of creativity and knowledge 
to promote both economic and cultural development. 
Therefore Turkey continues to implement sound copyright 
and related rights policy. 
 
 
End Text. 
 
 
Edelman