Plagiarism ruling on Elif Şafak's book 'The Flea Palace': She will pay compensation to Mine Kırıkkanat

The Anatolian 1st Civil Court of Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights has ruled in favor of İclal Mine Kırıkkanat in the lawsuit she filed against defendants Elif Şafak and Doğan Yayıncılık ve Yapımcılık Tic. AŞ.

In the ruling, which stated that the defendant party violated the rights of the plaintiff arising from the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works, it was decided to cease the infringement of the plaintiff's financial and moral rights.

The court ruled that, in accordance with the tort liability under the relevant clause of Article 70 of the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works, 1,000 lira in material damages, along with legal interest to accrue from the date of the lawsuit, shall be collected from the defendants and paid to the plaintiff.

TO BE PAID WITH LEGAL INTEREST

The court decided that 159 thousand 51 lira and 65 kuruş in material damages should be paid by the defendant Şafak, along with legal interest to accrue from September 26, 2023, the date of the request for an increase in the claim.

In the ruling, it was ordered that 83 thousand 666 lira and 87 kuruş in material damages be collected from the defendant Doğan Yayınları Yayıncılık ve Yapımcılık Tic. AŞ and paid to the plaintiff, along with legal interest to accrue from September 26, the date of the request for an increase in the claim. Additionally, it was decided that 10 thousand lira in moral damages be paid to the plaintiff by the defendants.

APPEAL PROCESS OPEN

The court ruled that after the decision becomes final, a notice must be published once in one of the 3 newspapers with the highest circulation in Turkey, with the costs to be covered by the defendant.

The ruling also noted that the parties have the right to appeal within a two-week period.

THE LEGAL PROCESS

In the petition submitted to the court by the attorney for the plaintiff İclal Mine Kırıkkanat, it was stated that her work titled "Sinek Sarayı" was first published in 1990. The petition noted that the novel titled "The Flea Palace" (Bit Palas), written by the defendant Elif Şafak, first published in 2002 and published by Doğan Kitap since 2009, plagiarized the plot, setting, some characters, and writing style of Kırıkkanat's book from page 60 onwards.

The petition, which requested material and moral damages from the defendants Elif Şafak and Doğan Yayıncılık ve Yapımcılık Tic. AŞ, also requested that the books in question that have not yet been released be prevented from being put on the market, that no new books be released, that the infringement be ceased, that the books in question that have already been released and are still being sold be recalled, that the profits obtained from the book be returned to Kırıkkanat, and that the verdict be published in 3 of the 5 newspapers with the highest circulation.

In the response petition submitted by the defendant company Doğan Yayıncılık ve Yapımcılık Tic. AŞ, it was requested that the case be dismissed on the grounds that the allegations had no legal basis.

The defendant Şafak, on the other hand, stated that it was not possible to even suggest an allegation of inspiration between the work titled "The Flea Palace" and the plaintiff's work titled "Sinek Sarayı," both in terms of literature and law, and requested the dismissal of the case.