Media Center

If a website is full of infringing material posted by third parties, can it still enjoy immunity from copyright infringement claims? Yes! In perhaps the most closely watched case on this subject for the last 15 years, a U.S. court recently awarded YouTube a clear-cut victory.

The court held that the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) protects website operators from infringement claims even if they had general knowledge that infringement is “ubiquitous” on their site. David Mirchin analyzes this case and suggests how Israeli websites may take some tips on how to handle material posted by their users.

The full update is available through the PDF icon.

The Israeli Compensation and Royalties Committee issued a new ruling that raises questions as to the ability of employers to obtain royalty-free assignments of inventions developed by employees during their term of service.

The full update is available through the PDF icon.

On September 1, 2010, Israel joined the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks.

The Madrid System allows companies and individuals to apply for trademark protection in various countries simultaneously using one central filing and registration procedure. Among the main advantages of the Madrid System are lower costs, one single application form, one language, one set of fees, multiple classes in each application and one international registration. Another major advantage is that the involvement of a local trademark agent may only be needed if the trademark application encounters an opposition in a selected country.

The full update is available through the PDF icon.

In this annual update from Meitar’s Technology and Intellectual Property Group, David Mirchin, head of the practice group, presents what he considers to be five of the most important developments during 2009 in Israeli law impacting e-commerce and technology companies.

The five topics are:

• The Premier League Loses Big: Streaming of Sport Events is a “Fair Use”
• The Score is Tied at 2-2: Initial Judicial Decisions under the new Israeli Spam Law
• Proposed Electronic Commerce Law Withdrawn
• Courts Regulating ISP Liability in Light of Failure to Enact Electronic Commerce Law
• Liability of Cell Phone Companies for Third Party Content

The full update is available through the PDF icon.