Exhaustion and parallel importation of copyright goods under Turkish law

Legal context. Turkey undertook to align its domestic intellectualproperty legislation with that of the European Communities,although it is not currently a member of the European Union.Towards this goal, the Turkish Copyright Act was amended inaccordance with Decision 1/95 of the EC-Turkey Association Counciland Council Directive 92/100. This article sets out the arrangementsregarding the exhaustion and parallel import of copyright goodsunder Turkish intellectual property law. Key points. The territorial exhaustion rule has been acceptedunder Turkish intellectual property law. By the first sale orother transfer of ownership of copies of a work, within theborders of Turkey, the distribution right of the copyright owneris exhausted in these copies. Copyright owners have the exclusiveright to prevent parallel import of copies of their works whichwere manufactured and marketed abroad with their consent. Practical significance. The rule of regional exhaustion is notapplicable in trade relations between Turkey and the EU. Onthe assumption that the copies of a work which is protectedunder Turkish law are first sold within the borders of the EU,the copyright owner in Turkey may prevent the parallel importationfrom the EU to Turkey. In contrast, once the first sale of copiesoccurs in Turkey, the parallel importation from Turkey to theEU can be prevented by the copyright owner within the bordersof the EU.