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Cablegate: Special 301 Demarche: Culture Ministry's Plans

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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 003072

SIPDIS


TREASURY FOR OASIA
STATE FOR EB/TPP/MTA/IPC - WILSON AND EUR/SE
DEPT PASS USTR FOR DBIRDSEY/KALVAREZ, PATENT AND
TRADEMARK OFFICE FOR URBAN, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS FOR TEPP
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/DDEFALCO


SENSITIVE


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD KIPR TU
SUBJECT: Special 301 Demarche: Culture Ministry's Plans
to Combat Copyright Piracy


Ref: State 111529


1. (U) This cable contains an action request. Please
see para 10.


2. (U) Summary: At a meeting to discuss the decision to
keep Turkey on the Special 301 Watch List, a Turkish
copyright official acknowledged increased copyright
piracy and outlined a series of steps to improve both
the legal/regulatory regime and enforcement. End
Summary.


3. (SBU) Econoff and Econ Specialist met with Gunay
Gormez, of the Culture Ministry's Copyright Office, on
May 8 to deliver the Special 301 demarche for Turkey.
Gormez agreed that copyright piracy has worsened in some
areas, but outlined a series of measures that should
begin to turn this situation around.


4. (SBU) Increased Piracy: Gormez acknowledged a
general increase in pirated products in Turkish markets
over the last year. She attributed this to: 1)
insufficient penalties for pirate producers, despite the
deterrent penalties included in the Copyright Law:
pirates have been assigned weaker penalties contained in
the older Cinema Law; 2) lack of training for the
judges, prosecutors, customs officers and for the
public; and 3) inadequate use of the provincial
copyright inspection units, caused by resource
shortages. Pointing to the Business Software Alliance'
success in cutting piracy in Turkey from 94 to 58
percent over the last two years, Gormez opined that the
Ministry could achieve a sharp reduction in piracy in
other sectors by implementing the following measures:

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5. (SBU) New Optical Media Regulation: Gormez told us
the GOT had prepared a draft regulation calling for the
use of optical media codes in video and music products.
All recording facilities will be required to receive
authorization documents from the Ministry of Culture to
carry out their activities under this regulation, and to
use code numbers for all compact disks as a copyright
protection measure. This should make it easier for the
law enforcement units and the Ministry of Culture to
detect pirated products, as well as the recording
facilities producing them. The Ministry of Culture has
received favorable opinions from the professional unions
and other GOT agencies regarding this regulation and
hopes to issue it soon. Econoff requested that Culture
provide us with a copy of the regulation as soon as
possible.


6. (SBU) Registration Regulation: Gormez reported that
the Ministry has developed a draft regulation on
mandatory/voluntary registration of copyright products.
Registration will be mandatory for musical and cinematic
works, and voluntary for others (such as some computer,
architecture and fashion designs). The registration
system is to facilitate payment of royalties and
tracking of copyright.


7. (SBU) Amendment to Cinema Law: The Ministry is
preparing to amend the copyright-related parts of the
Cinema Law which will ensure that copyright violators
are subject to the more stringent penalties contained in
the Turkish copyright law.


8. (SBU) Training: Gormez maintained that Culture
Ministry training for law enforcement officials dealing
with intellectual property will also help reduce piracy.
Last year, the Ministry briefed eight judges from
specialized intellectual property courts on copyright
protection. These judges are currently on an EU-
financed, long-term training program in Europe. The
Ministry is also planning to train Customs officers,
including at major border gates, and the provincial
copyright inspection teams. The Ministry is working on
software to enable customs officers to check the
validity of banderoles for copyright products in
realtime. Gormez added that the Culture Ministry has
received additional funds to support provincial
inspection units, and that law enforcement activities
will focus on Turkish resort areas during the summer
season.
9. (U) Embassy plans to meet with the Patent and
Trademark Institute on trademark piracy issues
identified in the Special 301 announcement in the near
future.


10. (U) Action Request for Department/USTR: Please
provide Embassy with the text of model optical media
legislation, if available. Pearson

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