חוק זכות יוצרים (תיקון מס' 5), התשע"ט-2019Copyright Law (Amendment No. 5), 2019 · automatic translation · suggest a correction

Official summary of the law (Knesset)

The Copyright Law (Amendment No. 5), 2019 (hereinafter – the Amendment) was passed in second and third readings on 1 January 2019, and it amends the Copyright Law, 2007 (hereinafter – the Law) on the following matters: 1. Indirect infringement of the copyright to make available to the public – The Amendment provides that a person infringes the copyright of the owner of rights in a work if he performs an act, by way of occupation, that facilitates or expands public access to a work that was made available to the public in infringement (for example, on the internet) without the permission of the copyright owner, provided he did so with the intention of profiting from the fact that access to the infringing work is easier, and also if, at the time of performing the infringing act, the infringer knew or should have known that the work was made available to the public in infringement. 2. Content-source access restriction order – The Amendment provides that a copyright owner or an exclusive licensee of a work, who claims that his copyright is being infringed by a website, may apply to the District Court for an order against an internet access provider, instructing it to restrict access to the content source if the main content on the site is copyright-infringing content. The provisions of the Amendment guide the court's discretion such that, among other things, the court must consider the extent of the impact on the public as a result of granting or refraining from granting the order, the severity of the copyright infringement, the necessity of the order for preventing the copyright infringement, the effectiveness of other remedies available to the copyright owner, the expected harm to access to other websites, and harm to the privacy of internet users. In addition, under the conditions set in the Amendment, priority is given to removing the infringing content on the site over blocking the site. It should also be noted that any person may ask the court to join as a party to the proceedings on the application for such an order, and also to an application to cancel the order or change its terms. 3. Disclosure of the identity of a person performing an act involving content on an electronic communications network – The Amendment provides that a person claiming infringement of his copyright on an electronic communications network, as defined in the Law, whose identity performing the act is unknown to him, may request the District Court to order a particular person (hereinafter – the respondent) to disclose to the court information identifying the person who performed the infringing act, for the purpose of taking legal proceedings against him. The respondent must provide, at an initial stage, to the court only, details that would lead to identification of the person who performed the act. The provisions of the chapter guide the court's discretion in issuing the order, and it is further provided that the court will order disclosure only if the application discloses a cause of action and does not appear vexatious or frivolous. The court may consider whether to request additional details known to the respondent or to disclose the identity of another person who may reveal the identity of the person who performed the act, and may also appoint an expert to continue clarifying the identity. The court may also forward to the person whose identity was disclosed to it the application for disclosure and receive his response, all before his identity is disclosed to the applicant. It is further provided that a person who receives information about the person who performed the act under the provisions of this chapter may use it only for the purpose of clarifying the identity of the person who performed the act, with the intention of taking legal proceedings against him. 4. Works whose copyright owner is unknown or cannot be located – The Amendment provides that use of a work whose copyright owner is unknown or cannot be located is permitted under the following conditions: the user acted with reasonable diligence to discover or locate the copyright owner before the use; the user clearly indicated, in the manner in which he used the work, his contact details and that the copyright owner has the right to request that the user cease using the work; after receiving notice from the copyright owner, the user ceased using the work or obtained a license for future use. For commercial use of a work, in addition to the conditions listed above, the user must publish a notice on the internet or in a daily newspaper a reasonable time before the use, and pay the copyright owner a reasonable royalty for the period beginning on the date the use of the work began. 5. Exceptions to the applicability of statutory damages without proof of harm – Section 56 of the Law provides that the court may award a person whose copyright or moral right has been infringed, at his request, statutory damages without proof of harm in an amount of up to 100,000 NIS for each infringement. Section 56A of the Law, added by the Amendment, establishes two exceptions to the applicability of the aforesaid Section 56. The first exception applies where a person made available to the public on the internet an artistic work that had previously been made available to the public, provided that he ceased the infringement within a reasonable time after receiving notice from the rights owner of the infringement, that the work was not copied from a catalog intended to offer works for sale, and in addition, one of the following applies: the infringement was not for a commercial purpose, or was done by a body acting for the public (as detailed in the Amendment) whose financial turnover does not exceed 1,200,000 NIS. The State and its institutions, a local authority, a government company and subsidiary, and a statutory corporation are excluded from this condition. The second exception set in Section 56A applies to educational institutions, libraries, archives, museums, and other bodies designated by the Minister of Justice, in consultation with the minister responsible for those bodies and with the approval of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, provided that the use of the work by these bodies was made within the scope of their ordinary activity, for the fulfillment of their purposes and not for a commercial purpose. 6. Amendments to Section 61 (offenses) and Section 62 (penalties) – The Amendment establishes additional offenses for copyright infringement by broadcast or by making available to the public on the internet. The Amendment takes effect on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette, except for the chapter concerning "Disclosure of the identity of a person performing an act involving content on an electronic communications network", which takes effect nine months from the date of publication in the Official Gazette, and which will also apply to content made public on the internet before that chapter takes effect.

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