Short answer: in Turkey the copyright in event photography and video stays with the person who created it unless it has been transferred in writing. Article 8 of Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works defines the author as the one who creates the work, and says nothing about who paid for it. Receiving the files does not move the rights either. Article 57 states that transferring ownership of the original or of copies does not, unless otherwise agreed, transfer the intellectual rights attached to them. For usage rights to pass, Article 52 sets two conditions: the agreement must be in writing, and each right covered by it must be listed separately. The one real exception is staff. Article 18(2) says that rights over works created by civil servants, salaried staff and employees in the course of their duties are exercised by those who employ them, and a freelance photographer invoicing for a single day does not fall inside that provision. What follows covers who holds authorship, why video needs more signatures than stills, the eight lines your contract needs, the separate consent required to publish a guest's image, and what infringement costs.
Who owns the copyright in an event photograph?
Article 8 settles it in one sentence: the author of a work is the person who creates it. There is a threshold before a photograph counts as a protected work. Article 4 lists photographic works and slides among works of fine art, while the opening line of the same article requires aesthetic value, which Turkish courts read as a requirement of individual character: framing, lighting, the moment chosen, the grade applied afterwards. A gala frame caught under stage light usually clears that bar. A flat record shot of the registration desk may not. An image that falls short is still not free for anyone to use, the protection simply shifts to other provisions. The second distinction matters more day to day: whose team was holding the camera? Article 18(2) provides that, unless the parties have agreed otherwise or the nature of the work suggests otherwise, rights over works created by employees while performing their duties are exercised by the employer. A videographer on the agency payroll sits inside that rule. A freelancer hired for the event does not. There is also a presumption of authorship in Article 11: whoever is named as the author on copies is treated as the author until proven otherwise, which is why the name embedded in delivered files tends to set the starting point of any dispute.
We paid the invoice and received the raw files. Do we not own them?
No. Article 57 provides that transferring ownership of the original or of reproduced copies does not, unless otherwise agreed, carry the intellectual rights with it. Taking delivery of a drive, pulling the files into your cloud, even paying the fee in full, none of that moves the rights, and the size of the fee does not change the analysis. The pattern on the ground is familiar. Dealer meeting photos go up the same evening and nobody objects. A year later the same frame appears in the annual report, then on a billboard, then inside a paid social campaign. Even where the first use is treated as tacitly accepted, the later ones are assessed separately because the medium and the purpose have changed. The remedy available to the other side has teeth: Article 68 lets a rights holder whose written permission was not obtained claim up to three times the fee that would have been agreed, or up to three times the market rate determined for that use. The argument is no longer about an unpaid licence, it is about three times an unpaid licence.
How do usage rights actually pass?
Article 48 allows an author to assign economic rights, limited or unlimited in duration, territory and content, for consideration or without it. Article 52 sets the form: agreements and dispositions concerning economic rights must be in writing, and the rights they cover must be listed separately. That second condition is the one most contracts miss. A line saying all copyright belongs to the client does not list anything separately, so it invites argument. The rights that need naming already have names in the statute: adaptation (21), reproduction (22), distribution (23), performance (24), and communication to the public by means of devices enabling the transmission of signs, sound or images (25). A licence is an alternative to assignment. Article 56 splits licences in two: non-exclusive, where the rights holder may grant the same permission to others, and exclusive, where it is reserved to one person. The third link in the chain is the one that gets dropped. Article 49 says that a person who has acquired an economic right or a licence may transfer it onward only with the written consent of the author, so an agency that intends to pass rights through to the brand needs that authority written into the first contract.
Why does video need more signatures than stills?
Because a film has more than one author. Article 8(3) treats the director, the composer of the original score, the screenwriter and the dialogue writer as joint authors of a cinematographic work, with the animator added for animated productions. The producer is not on that list; their position is protected through the neighbouring rights in Article 80. For the three minute aftermovie that follows a launch, this means a deal with the camera crew is not enough. The person who directed the edit, and the composer of any original score, need to be inside the paperwork too. Music is its own question. Permission for a track played from the stage sits on the communication to the public side, while permission for a track fixed into a video engages the reproduction and adaptation rights, and a venue's annual music licence does not reach the second one. Stock music and stock footage licences are not open ended either; most are sold in tiers by medium, duration and whether the use is advertising. Our separate piece on music licensing at events covers what happens in the room. This one is about the second clearance that starts once the music enters an edit.
What goes into the contract? An eight line checklist
One: assignment or licence, and if a licence, exclusive or non-exclusive. Two: name the rights one by one, with adaptation, reproduction, distribution, performance and communication to the public on separate lines. Three: state duration and territory, and if you want them unlimited, say so explicitly. Four: list the media. A corporate site, organic social accounts, paid advertising, a printed catalogue, exhibition stand graphics, an outdoor panel and an investor deck are different uses. Five: grant onward transfer and sub-licensing authority in the form Article 49 requires. Six: write the portfolio clause both ways, covering the agency's and the crew's right to show the work as a reference. This is the clause people remember after the project closes, which is exactly when it causes friction. Seven: moral rights. These cannot be assigned, only their exercise can be agreed. Article 15 leaves the decision on whether a work is published under the author's name or anonymously with the author, and Article 16 gives the author the right to prevent alterations, so get written agreement on cropping, colour changes, logo placement and subtitles. Eight: set out how raw files are delivered, how long they are archived and who carries the backup obligation.
Do you need separate consent to publish a guest's image?
You do, and it is independent of the copyright clearance. Article 86 provides that pictures and portraits, even where they do not qualify as works, cannot be exhibited or otherwise communicated to the public without the consent of the person depicted. The exceptions listed in the article are narrow: pictures of people who play a part in the political and social life of the country, pictures showing parades, official ceremonies or public assemblies in which the depicted persons took part, and pictures relating to daily events together with radio and film news. A dealer meeting or a year end party held for a closed guest list does not sit comfortably inside any of those, so leaning on the exception is a weak position. Data protection runs in parallel, since photographs and video are personal data and bring their own notice duty and, in some cases, a requirement for explicit consent. The two regimes do not substitute for each other, they apply together. The practical answer is straightforward: mention filming in the invitation and the registration form, put visible notices at the entrance, define a no-filming zone, and keep wide stage coverage separate from close portraits of individual guests.
What does infringement cost? Triple damages, prison and a six month window
On the civil side the main lever is the threefold figure in Article 68. On the criminal side, Article 71 provides for imprisonment of one to five years or a judicial fine for infringing the moral, economic or neighbouring rights protected by the law. Nothing starts automatically: Article 75 makes investigation and prosecution of these offences dependent on a complaint, and under the general rule the complaint must be filed within six months of learning of the act and the person responsible. Protection lasts a long time. Article 27 sets the term at the life of the author plus 70 years from death, so a frame shot today keeps raising permission questions in a corporate archive for decades. One detail belongs to archive management rather than legal review: where rights were granted for a fixed term or a fixed set of media, the expiry date has to be stored alongside the file. Reusing an image in year three that was licensed for two years counts as a fresh infringement, not a continuation of the first use.
Four things to settle before the event
One: sign the production agreement before the event, not after. Once the work is delivered, both the price and the terms move toward the author. Two: identify who is on payroll and who is freelance, because Article 18(2) only reaches the first group. Three: attach the delivery schedule to the contract, covering frame counts, resolution, delivery dates, the running time of the edit and the export formats. Four: keep the chain of rights in one place. The photographer, the camera crew, the editor, the composer, stock licences and any clearances for stage performances belong in a single folder, so that when the campaign team asks two years later the answer takes five minutes. Tales Event is based in Istanbul and delivers dealer meetings, product launches, gala nights, opening ceremonies and graduation ceremonies across Türkiye, handling production, sound and lighting, LED screens and the filming of event content under one contract. Tell us where and for how long you plan to use the material from your event, and we will come back with a proposal that spells out the scope of the rights transfer.
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