Ownership Of The On-Demand Works

The General Assembly of the Civil Court of Cassation (GACoC) made important determinations with its decision dated 16.01.2020 and numbered E. 2019 / 11-474, K. 2020/26, concerning the scope of the ordering party's use of the work created within on-demand work agreements, and whether a separate contract is required for the transfer of the economic rights of the author in terms of related uses.

In this case, the plaintiff was working as the purchasing manager in the defendant companies (ordering parties) and created a computer program upon the order of these companies. Since the plaintiff alleged that he did not receive payment in return for the computer program and there was no contract regarding the transfer of his economic rights, the plaintiff requested the cessation of the infringing use, and to be compensated due to the violation of his economic rights arising from the authorship. On the other hand, the defendants claimed that the use was based on permission,