Comparison of the Law of Copyright Applied to Computer Programs in the European Union and in Turkey

Gonca Gülfem BOZDAĞ

Since computer programs have been used in almost every field of our lives, the importance of computer technology has steadily increased so that it is required to be protected in a rigid and secure manner. Therefore, legal protection of computer programs has become a crucial part of many international instruments and also several countries as Turkey have provided legislation protecting author’s rights in terms of computer programs. In Turkish law, computer programs are protected by the Turkish Copyright Act (TCA) as literary works in parallel with Council Directive 91/250/EEC on the Legal Protection of Computer Programs (Directive). TCA was adopted to establish a common set of standards for software protection in line with EU law. These arrangements are important, particularly, in terms of the scope of the protection, exceptions of the protection, decompilation and duration limits.

Computer Programs, Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights, Council Directive.

Bilgisayar programlarının neredeyse hayatımızın her alanında kullanılması nedeniyle bilgisayar teknolojisinin önemi giderek artmakta olup, bu durum bilgisayar programlarının kesin ve güvenli bir şekilde korunmasını gerektirmektedir. Bu nedenle, bilgisayar teknolojisinin korunması uluslararası düzenlemelerin önemli bir parçası olmuştur ve ayrıca Türkiye gibi birçok ülke bilgisayar programları açısından telif haklarının korunmasına ilişkin düzenlemeler yapmıştır. Türk hukukunda bilgisayar programları, Bilgisayar Programlarının Yasal Korunmasına ilişkin 91/250/EEC sayılı Konsey Tüzüğü ile uyumlu Türk Fikir ve Sanat Eserleri Kanunu (TCA) çerçevesinde düzenlenmiştir. TCA, AB hukuku ile uyumlu yazılım korunmasına yönelik ortak standartlar oluşturmak amacıyla kabul edilmiştir. Bu düzenlemeler özellikle; korumanın kapsamı, korumanın istisnaları, derleme ve süre sınırları açısından önem arz etmektedir.

Bilgisayar Programları, Telif Hakkı, Fikri Mülkiyet Hakları, Konsey Direktifi.

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, computer programs have been used in almost every field of our lives such as education, industry, commerce and health, thus the importance of computer technology has steadily increased. Since computer programs have to be protected in a rigid and secure manner due to their widespread usage, inevitably legal protection of computer programs has become a crucial part of many international instruments. Therefore, several countries have provided legislation protecting author’s rights in terms of computer programs.

Copyright protection of computer programs is accepted as the most suitable form of protection, since it can be obtained easily and it does not have a flexible structure. In Turkish law, computer programs are protected by the Turkish Copyright Act (TCA) as literary works in parallel with Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991 on the Legal Protection of Computer Programs (Directive)¹.

In this essay, I will attempt to explain the definition and legal protection of computer programs, and I will then consider the basic implementation of this in Turkey. Finally, I will endeavor to analyze the Directive and TCA with a comparative method, particularly, in terms of the scope of the protection, exceptions of the protection, decompilation and duration limits.