US embassy cable - 05ANKARA941

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000941 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS USTR FOR JCHOE-GROVES 
DEPT PASS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS FOR STEPP 
DEPT PASS USPTO FOR JURBAN AND EWU 
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/DDEFALCO AND JBOGER 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, KIPR, TU 
SUBJECT: Turkey Takes Positive Steps in IPR Enforcement 
 
REF:  2004 Ankara 5497 
 
1.  (SBU)  Summary:  The Ministry of Culture considers 
the 2004 copyright legislation, which brought about a 
significant fall in street sales of pirated materials 
and jail terms for several convicted pirates, to be 
successful.  The Ministry is now waiting for the Prime 
Ministry to approve a new Certificate Regulation, which 
will be another important tool for the GOT to control 
piracy.  In a January meeting with Ambassador, (then) 
Culture and Tourism Minister Erkan Mumcu confirmed the 
fall in street sales and the recent court rulings.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Econoff and Econ Specialist met with Culture 
Ministry Copyrights Director General Abdurrahman Celik 
on February 15 to discuss the GOT's copyright 
enforcement efforts.  Celik said that, apart from the 
significant fall in street sales of copyrightable goods, 
the most important recent development has been 
imposition of deterrent sentences in IPR cases in 
Ankara.  According to Celik, three people have been 
sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment and fined TL60 
billion (approximately USD 40,000) for disseminating 
pirated copies of copyrighted goods.  Celik said these 
would be model rulings for other IPR cases, and noted 
that the judges had used their discretionary power to 
assess penalties above the legal minimum. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Econoff briefed Celik about the WIPO internet 
treaties and optical media control legislation.  Celik 
said that there are a total of 64 licensed recording 
facilities in Turkey, and another eight facilities 
producing CDs at international standards.  Celik 
admitted that these 64 facilities posed a threat for 
piracy, and would be closed after a new "Certificate 
Regulation" enters into force.  Celik said the draft 
regulation, which is currently at the Prime Ministry, 
would require all producers, dealers and distributors of 
intellectual and industrial property to obtain 
certificates for their operations from the Ministry. 
Celik said that following a six-month preparation 
period, the Ministry had established a detailed database 
of all facilities and automated all its provincial 
offices.  Celik claimed this regulation would be an 
important tool in the Ministry's struggle to curb 
piracy. 
 
Interagency Efforts to Combat Piracy 
------------------------------------ 
 
4.  (SBU)  Econoff raised Justice Minister Cemil Cicek's 
recent press statement on a circular the Justice 
Ministry sent to all public prosecutors' offices that 
requires prosecutors to notify tax offices about rulings 
on IPR cases.  Celik said he was aware of this circular, 
and another one issued by the Ministry of Finance, both 
of which aimed to prosecute convicted pirates for tax 
evasion and other financial losses to the GOT.  (Note: 
This measure was one of the action items the Justice 
Ministry announced following a USPTO-sponsored 
conference in Ankara in September 2004 --reftel.  End 
Note.) 
 
5.  (U)  Celik also noted the Culture Ministry's 
cooperation with the Turkish National Police (TNP). 
Celik said the Ministry was not only setting aside funds 
to award successful operations conducted by TNP, but was 
organizing a conference in March for TNP officers 
dealing with IPR crimes.  The aim of the conference is 
to identify deficiencies in IPR enforcement and to form 
a nationwide strategy against piracy. 
 
6.  (SBU)  Comment:  The use of deterrent penalities 
represents major progress in bolstering the 
effectiveness of Turkey's anti-piracy efforts for 
copyrighted goods.  There also appears for the first 
time, to be real Turkish interest in the WIPO Internet 
treaties.  Both of these advances can be attributed, in 
part, to the success of USPTO and Embassy outreach. 
Meeting with the Ambassador in January, then Culture and 
Tourism Minister Erkan Mumcu also raised the recent 
piracy convictions, stressing that these were deterrent 
penalties.  Mumcu opined that the step-penalty system 
introduced by last year's legal amendments, in which 
sanctions are increased for repeat offenders, is useful 
in combating piracy.  In the first 9 months of 2004, 
2,850 people received administrative fines.  Mumcu said 
that, if convicted in the future, these people would be 
sentenced to imprisonment and large fines.  In the 
meeting, the Ambassador also raised the importance of 
the GOT's joining WIPO Internet treaties to strengthen 
IPR protection and establish a favorable environment for 
e-commerce.  The Minister said the GOT already had joint 
studies with universities on preventing internet piracy, 
but said he would be willing to make use of the USG 
experience on this subject. 
Edelman