Employee Code Ownership: Employer and Worker FSEK Framework

Employee code: Financial rights belong to the employer, moral rights belong to the employee; Written transfer is required for freelancers.

Employee code

• FSEK article 18 - financial rights employer in employment relationship.
• Additional agreement for product outside job description.
• Personal project outside working hours creates uncertainty.

Freelancer / outsource

• A written transfer agreement is a must.
• "Work for hire" is not directly recognized in Turkish law.
• FSEK art.48 - written + signed transfer.

Privacy + know-how

• NDA parallel.
• Prohibition of competition (TBK article 444) is limited.

Frequently asked

Is my after-hours GitHub project mine?

If it's outside job description + work time, it's probably yours.

Freelancer delivered code; Am I the owner?

No, if there is no written transfer; There is a license.

Uses old working code; what to do?

FSEK violation complaint + precaution + compensation.

Relevant legislation

• Turkish Commercial Code art.331-644 — A.Ş. and LTD establishment, share transfer.
• FSEK art.2/1-1 — Protection of software as a work.
• SMK No. 6769 — Trademark, patent, utility model, design.
• KVKK article 12 — Data security, by-design principle.
• TBK art.193 et seq. — Contracts, guarantees, indemnification.