US embassy cable - 04ANKARA866

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000866 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EB/ DEPT FOR EB/TPP/MTA/IPC, EUR/SE 
DEPT PASS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
DEPT PASS USPTO FOR ELAINE WU/MICHAEL SMITH 
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/DDEFALCO 
DEPT PLEASE PASS USTR FOR LERRION/BPECK 
TREASURY FOR OASIA - MILLS AND LECHTER 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, KIPR, TU 
SUBJECT: Strengthened IPR Law On The Way 
 
 
Ref:  2003 Ankara 7792 and previous 
 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified.  Please handle accordingly. 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
 
1. (SBU) Culture Ministry Copyrights Deputy Director General 
Gunay Gormez told us the GOT was moving ahead with new anti- 
piracy legislation, which the Ministry submitted to the 
Council of Ministers last week.  Gormez expected the 
Parliament to pass the legislation soon and without changes. 
Gormez said the legislation would ban street sales of all 
copyright products and authorize all law enforcement units 
to make seizures.  Gormez told us the industry, having 
contributed to the preparation of the legislation, was fully 
content with it.  However, one film industry representative 
told us that some provisions, including reduced penalties, 
were not helpful.  End Summary. 
 
 
2. (U) In a January 29 meeting, Culture Ministry Copyrights 
Deputy Director General Gunay Gormez and Copyrights Expert 
Ozlem Abacioglu briefed Econoff and Econ Specialist about 
the status of draft anti-piracy legislation.  Gormez said 
the Culture Minister was personally interested in the 
legislation, and had recently sent it to the Prime Ministry 
for interagency clearances.  Gormez expects the Prime 
Ministry to submit the bill to Parliament quickly, with a 
vote likely in coming weeks. 
 
 
3. (U) Gormez said this was a model law addressing all the 
deficiencies in the previous legislation.  The draft law 
would ban street sales of both pirated and legitimate 
copyright material.  It also authorizes all law enforcement 
agencies to enforce this legislation; currently, only the 
police force has this power.  Gormez said another important 
provision is reduced penalties for piracy.  Gormez explained 
that the penalties in the existing legislation are so severe 
that judges have avoided applying the copyright law.  The 
new legislation imposes a TL 5 to 50 billion (USD 3,500 to 
35,000) cash penalty or 3 months to 2 years imprisonment or 
both for the street sale of pirated material.  The 
legislation also imposes a TL 3 billion (USD 2,000) cash 
penalty on the street sale of legitimate copyright products 
with banderoles.  The Culture Ministry would be authorized 
to collect any copyright material sold on the streets.  The 
existing legislation imposes a TL 50 to 150 billion (USD 
35,000 to 110,000) cash penalty and 4 to 6 years of 
imprisonment for copyright violations, and does not address 
street sales of legitimate copyright products with 
banderoles. 
 
 
4. (U) Gormez said the intellectual property industries and 
the collective societies were fully content with the new 
legislation. Gormez said the hotel and restaurant industries 
had problems with the earlier version of the draft 
legislation, which called for a compulsory arbitration and 
mediation mechanism for tariff/royalty disputes.  Taking 
their input into account, the Ministry introduced a 
voluntary mediation mechanism in the new draft.  A Mediation 
Board with five members (one from the Culture Ministry, two 
from the Competition Authority, one from the users and one 
from the related collective society) will be established to 
resolve disputes, upon demand from users. 
 
 
5. (U) Gormez said the new legislation also addressed 
internet copyright violations.  Gormez told us the new 
legislation holds information content providers and internet 
service providers responsible for the internet use of 
copyright material.  In case of a copyright violation, the 
rightholder will be required to warn the content provider to 
stop display of the material on the internet.  If the 
content provider fails to take action, the rightholder will 
then apply to the prosecutor's office with a demand for the 
service provider to cut the content provider's service. 
Gormez stressed that the Ministry took the U.S. Digital 
Millennium Copyright Act as a model in preparing this 
legislation and thought the new measures would address most 
copyright violations on the internet. 
 
 
6. (SBU) Representatives of copyright-based industries have 
told us that the Culture Ministry has made a real effort to 
consult with them on the draft law, but not all would agree 
with Gormez' assertion that they are completely happy with 
all the bill's provisions.  Nilufer Sapancilar, Director 
General of AMPEC (representing some U.S. motion picture 
companies), opined that the draft law was generally good, 
with the exception of provisions reducing criminal 
penalties.  AMPEC is also wary of some changes in the 
enforcement structure, such as the possibility of a 
diminished role for the provincial inspection commissions. 
EDELMAN