|
 Trying to combat those producing pirated material is futile unless the public is made aware that purchasing pirated material is equal to purchasing stolen goods, İLESAM President Vahit Bıçak said.
(Today's Zaman, 07 June 2009, Şule Kulu)
Turkish piracy gangs shaken, further crackdowns needed
While Turkey has been struggling to put an end to copyright theft for a long time, the fight against copyright piracy has gained momentum in recent years with the opening of EU negotiations. Turkey still has much to do to since public awareness of the issue is insufficient and although some deep-rooted piracy gangs have been caught, more action needs to be taken.
Despite the latest efforts, a recent report titled the "Special 301 Report" has shown that Turkey has to work harder to prevent intellectual property rights (IPR) violations. The report released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) annually as an overview of IPR violations and enforcement worldwide announced that Turkey would remain on the watch list for (IPR) violations.
The fight against IPR violations in Turkey dates back to 1951 with the enactment of the Law on Intellectual Property (FSEK), which was prepared by German jurist Ernst Hirsch. Although FSEK has gone through some changes over time, major amendments in the law were carried out in 1995 and 2001 as part of the European harmonization process. Professor Arslan Kaya from the İstanbul University faculty of law, who spoke at a conference organized by Turkish Intellectual and Scientific Works Owners Vocational Association (İLESAM) on Thursday, said although protection of intellectual property rights started late in Turkey, the current law is broad enough to protect owners' rights. The law categorizes works to be protected in four categories -- intellectual and scientific works, musical works, fine arts works and cinematic works. FSEK includes an article that says in case of any disagreements decisions should be made in favor of the work's owner.
The first prison sentence for copyright infringement was handed down in 2006. Yalçın Uçar, who was found to be producing pirated CDs, VCDs and DVDs and was arrested in July 2005, was sentenced to five years, seven months' imprisonment. There are more than 890 trials of suspected pirated material producers at the moment.
Recent operations strike major blow to copyright piracy gangs
As part of efforts to fight copyright piracy, provincial inspection commissions have been formed by the government with a regulation made in accordance with FSEK in 2001. Chairwoman of İstanbul Provincial Inspection Commission Neviz Sekizkardeş said the commission's duty is to determine whether or not copies have banderols -- special stickers placed on authentic, licensed products -- making the fight against copyright piracy more effective. Noting that they work within the body of the İstanbul Governor's Office, she said they conduct operations in cooperation with the İstanbul Police Department. Sekizkardeş provided striking data concerning recently conducted operations and pirated materials during the conference. She said that in data obtained from the provincial inspection commissions, bureau security teams have carried out 16,052 operations in the last four years involving the production or sale of pirated goods, taking 16,986 people into custody on suspicion of involvement in such illegal activity.
In the operations, nearly 171 million pirated goods were seized, of which 11,697,421 were CDs and VCDs, 1,346,038 were DVDs and 957,722 were books. A total of 3,693 operations were carried out against piracy gangs, and 11,238,850 pirated materials were seized in 2007. Sekizkardeş said they conducted four major operations into piracy gangs in İstanbul on May 2, 7 and 20 and June 1. "In 215 raids conducted by our teams in cooperation with İstanbul Police Department's Security Office and Financial Crimes Office as part of these four major operations, 10,635,000 pirated copies of music, cinema works and computer programs, 1,000,006 pirated books and 16 printing presses were seized. Four business places were shut down, 46 people were detained and 11 of them were arrested. Pirated CDs seized were worth TL 65,700,700, while pirated books seized were worth TL 100,075,000." İstanbul Governor Muammer Güler, who held a press conference on Friday about recent anti-piracy operations, said that by targeting gangs engaging in piracy they were trying to drain the swamp of piracy.
'Raising public awareness as important as enacting laws"™
Trying to combat those producing pirated material is futile unless the public is made aware that purchasing pirated material is equal to purchasing stolen goods, İLESAM President Vahit Bıçak said. There is insufficient awareness of the protection of intellectual property rights among the works' owners, Bıçak said, underling the role of vocational associations in raising awareness on the issue and protecting IPR. "Four vocational associations were founded in 1987 with respect to four categories defined by FSEK: İLESAM, Musical Work Owners' Society of Turkey [MESAM], Turkish Cinema Work Owners' Vocational Association [SE-SAM] and Artistic Work Owners' Society of Turkey [GESAM]. It is no coincidence that they were founded in 1987, the year when Turkey applied for full membership in the EU. They were founded as part of EU requirements. However, even the owners of the works are not aware of their rights. We have 1,500 members, which is quite low since there are even more than 1,500 academics at universities who have intellectual and scientific works," he said.
07 June 2009, Sunday
ŞULE KULU İSTANBUL |
