Region: Israel

Further to a 2010 agreement with the US Trade Commission, the Israeli government is finalising an amendment to the Patent Law. The agreement has resulted in the removal of Israel from the blacklist of countries that fail to protect copyright adequately and enabled Israel to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Under the amendment, Israeli applications will publish 18 months after the filing or priority date, as in most Western countries.

02 May 2012

The Israeli patent registrar has issued new guidelines to determine patentable inventions by clarifying the definition of "technological invention", as defined by Section 3 of the Patent Law. The long-awaited guidelines clarify the Israeli approach regarding software inventions in an attempt to make all Israeli examinations consistent.

21 March 2012

In May 2010 then Deputy Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks Noah Shalev Shlomovits ruled that Eva cigarettes, produced by Aktsionerno Droujestvo Bulgartabac Holdings in Bulgaria, were not confusingly similar to Eve cigarettes, produced by Philip Morris. The Supreme Court recently ruled on Philip Morris's appeal of this decision.

21 December 2011

For the past 50 years jeans manufacturer Wrangler Apparel Corp has used a W-shaped stitched pattern on the back pockets of its products. Israeli jeans manufacturer Crocker decorated the back pockets of its jeans with design that is arguably a W shape. As a result, Wrangler sued Crocker for, among other things, registered trademark infringement and passing off.

07 December 2011

The World Intellectual Property Organisation and Ono Academic College, Israel, have sponsored a three-day conference on traditional knowledge. "Traditional knowledge" generally refers to folk knowledge, folk medicine and the cultural expressions of regional, indigenous or local communities. However, it also covers the possible property rights of indigenous peoples in unique genetic resources found in plants and animals from their locale.

23 November 2011

In a case of alleged copyright infringement committed through the bundling of foreign television channels, Judge Esther Shtemer recently awarded the substantial sum of NIS19 million in damages. Referring to the Supreme Court's decision in <i>Tele-Event</i>, she held that retransmission constituted copyright infringement.

12 October 2011

In a case relating to the download of copyright-protected films, Judge Ofer Grosskopf recently ruled that supporting and displaying lists of links to films was not in itself a culpable act of infringement. He held that provided that an internet service provider has a removal on request policy, it is not culpable for acts of infringement resulting from such links.

05 October 2011

The Supreme Court recently ruled that rights holders should bear the cost of storing and destroying infringing goods where Customs cannot collect from the importer. The court saw no justification to use public funds to cover the cost of protecting private property, overruling the district court's decision to that effect.

31 August 2011

“<i>Hatikvah</i>” is the national anthem of Israel. In 2008 a French singer, producer and songwriter and Israeli air carrier El Al both produced versions of the anthem. Perez's claim for copyright infringement was recently rejected by Judge Hadas Ovadia, who concluded that the recordings, taken as a whole, were substantially different.

17 August 2011

In an important recent decision the Supreme Court recognised contributory infringement in copyright. Although the case in question related to book publishing, the decision is expected to have repercussions concerning the downloading and reproduction of digital data.

13 July 2011