The copyright of the architect

In this thesis, the historical development of the intellectual property rights, the definition and the scope of all kinds of the intellectual works of architecture, the authorship of the intellectual works of architecture and the copyrights of the architect on the intellectual works of architecture are studied.Intellectual property rights are regulated by the Law No. 5846 of 5 December 1951, Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (FSEK). The copyright protection of Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works is based on the Monist Theory. Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works is harmonized to The Bern Convention.The intellectual works of architecture are the architectural projects and designs, architectural models and the architectural works of arts. The architectural projects and designs and architectural models are regulated by the subparagraph 3 of the paragraph 1 of the Article 2 of FSEK. The architectural works of art is regulated by the subparagraph 3 of the paragraph 1 of the Article 4,The ownership on the intellectual works of architecture might be individual or cooperative or joint. The provisions related to the joint venture are applied to the joint authorship of the intellectual works of architecture. However due to the nature of the intellectual works of architecture, it is not possible to apply all provisions regarding the joint venture to the intellectual works of architecture.The architect has the moral and economic rights on the intellectual works of architecture. The most important moral rights of the architect are the right to prevent the modification of the work in accordance with the Article 16 and the rights to prevent damage and demolition of the work in accordance with the Article 17 of FSEK. The Architect may use the right to prevent the modification or damage and demolition only for the architectural works of arts which are produced by the application (construction) of the architectural projects. Since the unaesthetic structures are not accepted as the architectural works of art, the architect has not any copyright on the unaesthetic structures.The conflicts between the copyrights of the architect on the architectural works of art and the ownership rights of the owner on the architectural structure are unavoidable. The conflicts between the copyright of the architect and the ownership right of the owner on the architectural works of art should be settled in accordance with the rules of balancing the interests.The most important economic right of the architect on the intellectual works of architecture is the reproduction right. There are two types of reproduction right on the architectural projects. The architectural projects might be reproduced either in two dimensions or in three dimensions by way of application (construction). If the structure, which is produced by the architectural project in three dimensions, has the aesthetic qualification, the feature of the reproduction disappears and the structure becomes an individual architectural works of art. The copyrights on the architectural works of art belong to the architect who draws the architectural project of the architectural works of art.In this thesis, the civil and criminal proceedings against the infringements of the intellectual rights of architects are studied. The current and recent precedents regarding the intellectual rights of architect of the Supreme Court are examined as well.