1 February 2010Jurisdiction reportsMichael Factor

Environment and online issues

Patent developments

The Israel patent database is now available online on the Israel Patent Office website (www.ilpatsearch.justice.gov.il/UI/) and via the WIPO’s Patentscope (www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/index). By January 2011, electronic filing and prosecution of Israel patents should be possible.

In Circular M. N. 76, the Israel Commissioner of Patents announced a new patent classification: the ‘environmentally friendly’ class, which is to include technologies that counter global warming, reduce pollution of water or air, and promote environmentally friendly agriculture.

Applicants may submit a letter when filing their application to explain why their technology should be so considered and such applications, if accepted as being suitably green and eco-friendly, will be examined immediately, instead of having to wait their turn. Furthermore, previously filed applications whose examination has not yet started can be classified as ‘green’ and accelerated by supplying such a letter. This service is offered free of charge.

Copyright and moral rights

Newspapers and news agencies are quick to inform readers that rewriting their content is copyright infringement, despite the fact that it isn’t. Nevertheless, newspapers have been hit by news aggregation services such as Google News and some are finding it difficult to make ends meet in the Internet age.

In an interesting about-turn, an Israeli photo-journalist, Tess Scheflan, has successfully sued Israel’s most popular daily newspaper Yedioth Achronot, and its associated website, YNET, for copyright infringement by using one of her photographs without her permission and for infringement of her moral rights by not accrediting the source.

The picture was of a helicopter and Israeli soldier at the helipad of the Tel HaShomer Hospital and was taken during the Second Lebanon War. The journalist had published the photograph on a website where photographers post pictures for feedback and criticism. The posting was accompanied by her name and the ‘©’ copyright symbol, and was used in both media after removing the copyright notice and name of the photographer.

“Newspapers have been hit by news aggregation services such as Google News."

Scheflan sued the paper and the website for NIS 70,000 (about $20,000). The Tel Aviv District Court rejected the newspaper’s fair use defence and in lieu of proven damages, awarded minimum statutory damages of NIS 10,000 ($2,900) for each offence, viewing the printed paper and the website as separate publications.

Since the paper had intentionally removed her name, the court also awarded damages of NIS 4000 ($1,350) separately for each of the two publications, noting that the paper had apologised and posted a credit after the photographer had brought the issue to their attention.

The case was tried under the Copyright Ordinance 1911, since the new copyright law was not in effect in 2006 when the infringement took place. The court considered the publication non-commercial, which is surprising since the paper accepts advertising and uses content to attract readers and give exposure to the advertisements.

In another copyright and moral rights case, Molly Cohen, an artist living in Jerusalem, discovered that Solomon Suissa, who she had contracted to sell her paintings, had deleted her name and inserted his own before trying to sell prints via the Jerusalem Artistic Prints website. Cohen sued Suissa, website owner Yair Medina and the company. Suissa didn’t defend himself against the suit.

Cohen was unable to prove any financial losses, since it was not clear that any prints were sold. Nevertheless, the judge awarded statutory copyright and moral right damages to Cohen for the display of the goods on the website.

Noting that the hosting company, Jerusalem Fine Art Prints, had taken the pictures down immediately the alleged fraud was brought to its attention, the judge ruled that the posting of all Cohen’s paintings attributed to Suissa should be considered as one infringement of her moral rights. The judge imposed damages of NIS 20,000 ($5,800)—the maximum allowable under the 1911 Copyright Law in force at the time of the infringement—and a further NIS 18,000 in legal costs.

Michael Factor is a partner at JMB, Fa©tor & Co. He can be contacted at: mfactor@israel-patents.co.il

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk