Expert panel shock for French-owned Obilet over 'pirated software' allegations! Police conduct office inspection

Online travel and ticketing platform Obilet is facing allegations of software copyright infringement and practices contrary to competition rules. ARİVA Bilgisayar Yazılım Danışmanlık Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, the rights holder of the ORS software used by Obilet for many years, terminated its contract with Obilet in 2025.

Following the termination of the contract, Obilet launched a software called 'Obus'. It is alleged that the company completed this transition in a short period of about a week, forced approximately 200 bus companies—including established firms such as Varan and Ulusoy that used ORS Software—to switch to this system, and threatened that the tickets of companies resisting the transition would not be sold on the platform.

INSPECTION AT OBILET OFFICE UNDER POLICE SUPERVISION

Following these developments, ARİVA initiated legal proceedings, claiming that the Obus software Obilet began using was created by copying the infrastructure, database, and front-end designs of ORS Software.

It has been learned that an inspection was conducted at the Obilet office under police supervision as part of the allegations, and the software infrastructure was examined by experts.

The report prepared by a three-person technical expert panel included findings that the Obus software used by Obilet was copied from the ORS Software belonging to ARİVA.

Following these findings, ARİVA applied to the court requesting a preliminary injunction to stop the use of the Obus software. Despite this, it is alleged that Obilet continues to use the software in question.

SOLD TO THE FRENCH FOR 550 MILLION DOLLARS

On the other hand, it is known that the majority of Obilet's shares were purchased in 2024 by Comuto SA, the owner of the Paris, France-based BlaBlaCar brand, for approximately 550 million dollars. It was reported to the public that the Competition Authority had authorized this sale. It is stated that numerous complaints have been filed with the Competition Authority against Obilet previously, particularly on the grounds that it created a monopoly in the bus ticket sales market.

NOTICE SERVED TO FRENCH COMPANY

In addition to the pirated software allegations, it has been learned that ARİVA has sent a formal notice to Comuto SA, which acquired Obilet, through lawyers in France, and is also preparing to file a criminal complaint in Turkey against Obilet's foreign executives.

The root of the tension that has been ongoing in the sector for a long time is said to be the infrastructure technical service fees and high commission rates that Obilet charges bus companies. Some company representatives argue that Obilet makes companies dependent on its own system and does not allow for alternatives.

News Source: 12punto