Cablegate: Update On Intellectual Property Issues:

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

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:

SUMMARY

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1. (U) THE CULTURE MINISTRY IS CONSIDERING AN ARRAY OF

LEGAL AMENDMENTS AND OTHER MEASURES AIMED AT COMBATING

CULTURAL MATERIALS AND EMPOWERING THE POLICE TO ENFORCE

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

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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

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

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

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

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

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