Adaptations in Copyright Law

According to Code on Intellectual and Artistic Works (No. 5846) a work is any intellectual or artistic product bearing the characteristic of its author, which is deemed a scientific and literary or musical work or work of fine arts or cinematographic work. As can be seen, the Code divides work into four categories. An intellectual product must be included in one of these four categories to be accepted as a work. Economic rights of copyright owners are ensured in the Code and one of these rights is right of adaptation. Usage of right of adaptation results in occurrence of a new intellectual product which is called as adaptation (derivative work) by the Code. Because adaptation is intellectual and artistic product bearing the characteristics of the adaptor, which is created by benefiting from another work but which is not independent of such work. In case of adaptation, a copyrighted work is transformed into a different copyrighted work by adding some new intellectual characteristics. The main types of adaptations are listed in article 6 of the Code. In this dissertation, we will evaluate the subjects of work, author and exclusive rights of authors with regards to adaptations. Then, we will focus on the concepts of right of adaptation, adaptation as a copyrighted work, main types of adaptations and adaptor as an author in detail, since they are the focal points in our study. After the description of derivative works and adaptor as an author, we will have talked about works that are created as a job duty, works that are created by co-authors and works that are created by separate authors. In addition to that, other important topics that will be examined in this thesis are transfer of the exclusive rights on adaptations and legal remedies in case of infringements. Keywords: "work", "derivative work", "derivative work owner", "contract", "civil lawsuits".