Frequently Asked Questions

Turkey has the following legislation concerning copyright protection:

• the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (Copyright Act) No. 5,846 of 5 December 1951, as amended by Law No. 5,101 on 3 December 2004;
• the Law on the Evaluation, Classification and Support of Cinema Films; and
• a number of regulations concerning the implementation and enforcement of the above Copyright Acts, including the Regulation No. 26,171 of 17 May 2006 regarding the recording and registration of intellectual and artistic works.

The administrative procedure for copyright formalities is implemented in Turkey by General Directorate of Copyright and Cinematography Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (the ministry). Copyright enforcement, however, is effected in Turkey by the judicial authorities.

Copyright infringement actions are heard in Turkey before specialist courts for intellectual and industrial property rights located in the cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. In other cities of Turkey, copyright infringement actions are heard by the local civil commercial court or, in the absence of such a court, the local ordinary civil court of first instance acting as specialist courts.

According to article 1B of the Turkish Copyright Act, a work subject to copyright qualifying for protection under the Act: ‘is any kind of intellectual and artistic creation carrying the characteristics of its author and is considered as scientific, literary, musical, fine art (artistic) or cinematographic.’

According to the Turkish Legislation the work enjoying copyright protection shall bear the characteristics and particulars of its author. No particular test is applicable for determining the characteristics or particulars of the author. The Turkish Copyright Act also provides protection for computer software and databases.

According to the general principles in the Turkish Copyright Act, original or creative works shall be subject to copyright protection.

The issue of originality of the work subject to copyright protection is assessed and evaluated on a caseby- case basis in Turkey within the context, and in relation to, the characteristics reflecting the personality of the author. Article 2, paragraph 2, of the Turkish Copyright Act excludes from copyright protection the concepts or principles on which any element of a computer program is based including those on which its interface is based. This is because they are not deemed works that can enjoy copyright protection under the Turkish Copyright Act.

The Turkish Copyright Act includes the doctrines of ‘fair use’ related to copyright and restricts the rights of the copyright-holder for reasons of public policy.

Public policy restrictions in Turkey include:
• use of the work subject to copyright protection as evidence before the court or other authorities in criminal proceedings; and
• reproduction of photographic works subject to copyright protection for judicial reasons.

Public interest restrictions in Turkey include:
• use of officially published law texts, regulations and court decisions;
• reproduction of a public recitation with the aim of providing news or broadcasting; and
• free use of published works for educational purposes provided there is no direct or indirect commercial profit arising from the use.

According to the Turkish Copyright Legislation, quotations may be used provided that they are clearly referenced. The use of the published daily news is a further restriction.
According to the Turkish Copyright Legislation, personal fair use also restricts the copyrights of the author provided that such use is not detrimental to the author’s legitimate rights.

The Turkish Copyright Act defines ‘performing artists’ as any person who interprets, presents, explains, speaks, plays or expresses a work in a variety of manners in an original or novel way, without any prejudice to the moral and economic rights to the owner of the work subject to copyright protection.

According to Turkish Copyright Legislation performing artists have the right to be known as owner of their performances and to prevent them from being altered or impaired in a manner detrimental to their reputation (moral rights). Also, performing artists that interpret a work subject to copyright protection with the authorization of its author have the exclusive right to record their performance and to reproduce, distribute, communicate, rent, lent and to broadcast their recordings (economic rights).

Moral rights are recognized in the articles 14 to 17 of the Turkish Copyright Act and respectively give the copyright-owner the exclusive right to:
• determine whether the work subject to copyright protection shall be disclosed to the public and if so, to decide the timing and the manner of the publication (the right of disclosure);
• decide whether the work subject to copyright protection shall be published in its name, pseudonymously or anonymously;
• prohibit the reduction, insertion and other modification of the work subject to copyright protection as well as of the name of owner of the work without its authorization (the right of integrity);
• request access to the original copy of work subject to copyright protection temporarily from subsequent rights-holders.

 Furthermore, according to Turkish Copyright Act the right of disclosure and the right of integrity of the work subject to copyright protection are inalienable in the sense that they cannot be waived by a contract if the manner of disclosure and the manner of alteration harms the reputation of the owner or the nature and characteristics of the work.

Regulation No. 26,171 of 17 May 2006 in Turkey, regarding the recording and registration of intellectual and artistic works subject to copyright protection, provides a system for registration of all kinds of artistic work, which is administered by the ministry and the General Directorate of Copyright and Cinematography in Ankara. The registration of these rights would enable the recordal of the license to use and assign the work subject to copyright protection before the Ministry.

 The recording or registration of copyright based on declarations does not have a constitutive effect for the establishment of copyright in Turkey; it only serves as evidence of the existence of the copyright. It is therefore further mentioned in article 13 that: ‘The ministry shall not carry any responsibility for such recording or registrations.’

On the other hand, according to Law No. 5,224 on the Support of Cinema Films through Evaluation and Classification in Turkey, cinema works subject to copyright protection which are produced within Turkey or subject to importation have to be evaluated and classified by the Council of Evaluation and Classification within the Ministry. They are recorded and registered and granted a certificate of operation prior to their wholesale, distribution and display to the public.

Authors of cinematographic and musical works and movie and record producers have to record their works subject to copyright protection independently from the establishment of the right itself. In other words, the purpose of copyright registration is solely to evidence their authorship and to follow up any authorizations the authors may have given in respect of the use of the economic rights of their works. Mandatory registration in Turkey in this instance is not concerned with preventing copyright infringement.

According to the final paragraph of article 13 of the Turkish Copyright Act: ‘All fees regarding the registration or recording procedures in this law shall be determined by the ministry. All procedures and guidelines for the registration and recording of such rights, determination of fees and other issues are to be determined in the implementing Regulation to be issued by the ministry.’

In Turkey the ministry issued an implementing Regulation on 14 November 2002 on the basis of the former article 13, which only provided a mandatory registration system for cinematographic and musical works subject to copyright protection. Until recently, the ministry had not issued an implementing Regulation further to the last modification of article 13 establishing the dual system.

The Turkish ministry has recently issued and put into force implementing Regulation No. 26,171 based on the new article 13 of the Turkish Copyright Act of 17 May 2005, providing the procedures and guidelines for the recording or registration of all works subject to copyright protection.

According to this Turkish Regulation, the authors of cinematographic and musical works subject to copyright protection, for which recording or registration is mandatory, have to file an application form and the following documents with the offices of the Turkish ministry in the relevant city:
• a ‘producer document’, which is obtainable from the Turkish ministry upon evidence of the applicant’s commercial activity;
• an undertaking indicating the ownership of the work in accordance with the Turkish Copyright Act which acknowledges civil and criminal responsibilities where evidenced otherwise;
• a certificate obtained from the Council of Evaluation of Classification of Cinema Films in Turkey in respect of cinematographic works subject to copyright protection;
• the scenario and dialogue script and the genuine music notes and lyrics for cinematographic works, and the genuine music notes and lyrics for musical works subject to copyright protection;
• the advertising poster or board for cinematographic works subject to copyright protection, and the cover and sample of all promotional materials, if any, for musical works subject to copyright protection;
• a digital recording of the work (DVD, VCD or audio CD); and
• the receipt showing payment of the official registration or recording fees.

In relation to the voluntary recording or registration of works subject to copyright protection, the authors, in addition to the application form and the documents mentioned under the first, second and fourth points above, have to submit:
• the source codes for computer programs in the specified form (the specified form varies on the basis of the characteristics of the computer programs);
• the data recordings for databases (requirements vary);
• two digital recordings for all other works; and
• a digital recording with detailed description for artistic works.

According to the information obtained from the Turkish ministry, such applications have been filed with and accepted by the head offices of the ministry in Ankara since February 2007 and are currently being prosecuted within two to three weeks as of their filing.

As the registration of a copyrighted work does not have any constitutive effect in Turkey, failure to register has no negative effect on copyright ownership.

Cinematographic or musical works subject to copyright protection for which recording or registration is mandatory will not be granted a certificate of operation for their wholesale, distribution and display to the public according to Turkish copyright law.

Article 18, paragraph 2, as amended by Law No. 4,630 provides that: ‘The rights originating from the works created by civil servants, employees and workers in the course of their duties or work shall be used by their employers or by those having appointed them unless otherwise agreed by special contract between them or otherwise construed from the nature or particularity of the work or employment.’

According to general opinion in Turkey, whereas the employer is entitled to use the economic rights arising under copyright, the employee who has created the work subject to copyright protection continues to be the owner of the moral rights arising under copyright including the right to claim that his or her name appears on the artwork, the right of disclosure and publication, and the right to prevent unauthorized alteration to the work, etc.

Although ownership of economic rights arising under copyright by the employer was clearly mentioned in article 8 of the old version of the Turkish Copyright Act No. 5,846, ownership of the economic rights arising under copyright is not mentioned as such in amended article 18, which instead states that ‘all rights shall be used by the employers and by those having appointed them’. In our opinion, however, the absence of ‘economic rights’ in amended article 18 should not be interpreted to mean that the use of both the moral and economic rights rest with the employer owing to the general acceptance of the nontransferable character of the moral rights.

The agreements and the disposal of the economic rights of the copyrighted work in Turkey should be in writing and the type of these rights shall be expressly mentioned in writing in order to be valid. Therefore, the simple of act of hiring an independent contractor for the creation of an artistic work is not sufficient for the automatic transfer of the rights to the copyrighted work. The creator shall clearly mention which of the economic rights arising under copyright protection have been transferred to the hiring party.

On the other hand, although economic rights in relation to work not yet created but subject to copyright shall not be transferred, thus any agreement in this respect is null, an undertaking/commitment with respect to the disposal formalities is valid even though the work has not yet been created.

According to article 9 of the Turkish Copyright Act, ‘if a work created by more than one person can be divided in parts, each person shall be deemed the author of the part created by him’. Each person may request that others cooperate in their exercise of moral or economic rights on the whole work subject to copyright protection and permission can be granted by the court where any person refuses to cooperate.

According to article 10 of the Turkish Copyright Act, ‘if a work created by the contributions of more than one person constitutes an indivisible whole, the community of authors shall be deemed the author’. Since this type of work consists of a work created with the inseparable efforts and collaborations of a group of persons, moral and economic rights arising under copyright protection of the work of collaboration are to be used by the community of authors (the rights on cinematographic works are reserved).

The community of authors creating the work subject to copyright protection is governed by the provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations regarding ordinary partnership.

In Turkey, the author or his or her successors can transfer or assign in part or in whole the legally recognized economic rights of the work subject to copyright protection, whether limited or unlimited in time, place or content, and whether or not for monetary consideration. Economic rights in relation to work not yet created but subject to copyright protection shall not be transferred.

Although not expressly indicated in the Turkish Copyright Act, moral rights arising under copyright protection are absolutely non-transferable and therefore any transfer of such rights is to be considered as invalid in accordance with the provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations.

In Turkey, it is possible for the author or his or her successors to transfer or assign the right to dispose of the economic rights arising under copyright protection to a third party, in other words to license. A license can be non-exclusive or exclusive. According to Turkish Copyright Act , unless otherwise established either by law or by contract, all licenses are deemed non-exclusive. Non-exclusive licenses are governed by the provisions on leases whereby exclusive licenses are ruled by the provision on usufruct. 

The obligations of the performing rights societies can mainly be separated under three main headings as:
• the administration of copyrights;
• to behave equitably while administering the copyrights;
• to provide information to the Turkish ministry.

Although the Turkish Copyright Act does not explicitly mention that performing right societies are authorized with the administration of licenses, one may say that this duty surely falls under the administration of rights obligations, which bears a very wide scope (including the preparation and enforcement of collective and solitary agreements, following the rights, appealing to courts, etc). To manage the licenses, performing rights societies must be authorized with a separate power of attorney prepared and signed by the member, who is the rights-owner.

The transfer of copyrights in Turkey can be terminated by reverting the right arising under copyright protection to the author and by the author’s renunciation of this right.

According to Turkish Copyright Act, the rights-holder may renounce the transfer of rights arising under copyright protection and terminate the agreement when the transferee does not benefit from, and does not use, the economic rights as it should, within a specified or reasonable period, thereby not fulfilling the interests of the rights-holder.

 If the author or his or her heirs have transferred an economic right arising under copyright protection for a specific purpose or for a specified period, the right reverts to the author when the purpose has been attained or the period has expired. This provision does not apply in the event of the bankruptcy or death of the transferee unless the right arising under copyright protection is to be personally exercised by him or her.

Moreover, the author of the copyrighted work or his or her heirs may renounce the economic rights by an official deed provided that there is no prejudice to previous obligations.

According to the Turkish Regulations, the authorization to assign and use the economic rights arising under copyright protection can be registered before the Turkish ministry upon request. The following documents must be provided:
• an undertaking indicating the authorization to assign and use the economic rights arising under copyright protection, and acknowledging the civil and criminal responsibilities where evidenced otherwise;
• an identification such as an identity card for individuals or a commercial registry extract for legal persons;
• a signature circular of the person or persons who represent the entity;
• a digital recording of the work (DVD, VCD or audio CD); and
• the receipt showing payment of the official registration or recording fees.

Additionally, the documents evidencing transfers and other transactions on cinematographic works subject to copyright protection can be requested and duly recorded before the Turkish ministry for the latter to grant authorization of operation in accordance with Law No. 5,224 (see question 18).

According to Turkish Copyright Legislation -copyright protection runs for the lifetime of the author and for 70 years after his or her death If the work subject to copyright protection  is created by joint authors, the 70-year period will begin from the death of the last surviving author.

 The protection period for works subject to copyright protection which are made public for the first time following the death of the author is 70 years after the death of the author. This period will commence on the first day of the year following the author’s death.

According to Turkish Copyright Legislation if the copyright is owned by a legal entity, the term of protection is 70 years from the date on which the work was made public.

According to Turkish Copyright Legislation if the work protected under copyright is a database, the protection period is 15 years from the date when the work was made public. If substantial amendments are made to the database causing substantial change in the content and investment, the amended version will be protected as a new database.

According to Turkish copyright legislation the protection period starts from the date on which the work was made public. A protection term that is deemed to start on the date which the work is made public is counted from the first day of the year following the year during which the work has first been made public. 

According to Turkish Copyright Legislation the infringement of economic and moral rights arising under copyright protection will constitute a copyright infringement.

The infringement of economic rights arising under copyright protection includes adapting, reproducing, distributing, performing, broadcasting or otherwise disposing of the work without the consent of the copyright holder.

Infringement of moral rights arising under copyright protection includes:
• unauthorized communication of the work subject to copyright protection to the public;
• failure to put the author’s name on the work subject to copyright protection;
• putting a name other than the author’s name on the work subject to copyright protection; and
• modifying the work subject to copyright protection without the consent of the author.

Against a copyright infringement in Turkey it is possible to:
• institute civil action for stopping the copyright infringement;
• claim material and moral damages; and
• request the confiscation and destruction of the infringing or pirated goods.

It is possible to request injunctive measures within the scope of the civil proceedings by evidencing the danger of (imminent) copyright infringement that may cause substantial damage. The court will need to be convinced that there is a high probability of such an infringement. The courts are conservative and have the discretion to refuse claims for injunctive measures and they may request the deposit of a guarantee for ordering such injunctions.

 The injunctive measures may be requested in Turkey either before or within the context of the civil action instituted on the basis of copyright infringement. Should the injunctive measures related to copyright be requested before the institution of the civil action and the court reaches a favorable decision, the main civil action shall be instituted within 10 days of the date of the order for the injunctive measures. Otherwise, the order for injunctive measures will remain without effect.

It is also possible according to Turkish Copyright Legalisation to institute a specific non-adversarial action for the determination of the facts infringing copyright. This can be an ex parte action for the determination of the infringement. If affirmative, it will serve as evidence within the context of the main civil or criminal actions. An interlocutory injunction related to copyright may also be requested within the context of the action for determination of evidence.

Copyright infringement is also a criminal offence in Turkey and it is possible to request the seizure of infringing products. Criminal proceedings reated to copyright can be brought against the infringer by filing a complaint with the public prosecutor.

Where a complaint is favorably received, the public prosecutor may order the police to seize the goods infringing copyright. Criminal proceedings, initiated by the public prosecutor, can be brought if the copyright infringement is determined by the seizure of the goods. The infringing goods seized by the police will be kept in judicial custody until the end of the criminal proceedings.

According to Turkish Legislation local security forces can ex officio initiate proceedings against and prosecute those involved in the selling of copies of musical and cinematographic works subject to copyright protection and non-periodical publications on the street or in similar open areas without banderoles (stickers denoting that copies are legitimate); there is no requirement for the copyright holder to bring the proceedings or complaint. The person involved in such an offence is convicted through criminal proceedings.

In Turkey it is possible to request customs to suspend the release of the goods infringing copyright. During routine clearance, the Turkish customs authorities, in cases of clear indications of copyright infringement, may suspend the release of the goods. Likewise, the copyright-holder may also put Turkish customs on alert for a period of 30 days by filing an application for a possible copyright infringement for incoming and outgoing goods.

According to Turkish Copyright Legislation civil claims related to copyright are subject to a one-year and 10-year limitation period. The one-year limitation period runs from the date when the copyright infringement becomes known to the copyright-holder. Should the copyright holder become aware of the act of copyright infringement after the one-year period, he or she may still ask for compensation within a 10-year period. Where the infringing act also constitutes a criminal offence (which has a longer limitation period) the longer period will be the valid period for the purposes of the civil proceedings.

The limitation period for filing a complaint for the criminal proceeding related to copyright expires within six months of learning of the infringing act.

Turkey is a party to the following international conventions related to copyright:
• the Berne Convention, of which Turkey is a signatory of the Paris text of 1971;
• Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS);
• the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations, adopted at Rome;
• the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty – WPPT; and
• the WIPO Copyright Treaty – WCT.

Turkey is not a party to the Universal Copyright Convention.

In Turkey, the principle of national treatment is applied on the basis of the provisions of the Berne Convention. Article 88, paragraph 1(3), of the Turkish Copyright Act reads: ‘This Law is applicable to all works of foreigners which have not been communicated to the public or which have been communicated to the public for the first time outside Turkey with the proviso that there are appropriate provisions to this effect in an international convention of which Turkey is signatory.’

Moreover, being a party to TRIPS, Turkey provides copyright protection to software and databases and has extended the protection to performers’ works as well as to producers of recording and broadcasting organizations.