Copyright registration in Israel. Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia. Israel has the world’s 31st-largest economy by nominal GDP and is the most developed country that is currently in conflict. The standard of living in Israel is the highest in the Middle East, and the country ranks high on the global HDI list. Israel also ranks among the world’s top countries by percentage of citizens with military training, percentage of citizens holding a tertiary education degree, research and development spending by GDP percentage, women’s safety, life expectancy, innovativeness, and happiness. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of copyright registration in Israel.
Copyright in Israel
Unlike other intellectual property rights such as trademarks, patents, industrial designs, plant varieties, etc., copyright does not need to be registered for protection but will be automatically protected from the time the works are created.
The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.
Accordingly, whether registered or not, the copyright to the work will still be protected. However, the creator should still apply for copyright registration in Israel early because early registration will give the author/owner of the work many advantages in the event of a dispute.
When unauthorized use of work occurs around the world, the owner of a work who has made a copyright registration in Israel will not have to waste time and complicate matters with proving himself/herself to be the legitimate owner of the work.
Thereby, in order to avoid passivity, the owner of the work should make a copyright registration in Israel immediately to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Israel
Israel is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1950.
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the Berne Convention) is an international agreement governing copyright. The agreement was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886.
As Israel is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Israel will be given copyright protection in each of the Berne Convention member countries.
In most countries, copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work existed in material form. However, the copyright registration in Israel is critical in order for the copyright owner to obtain evidence of copyright.
Evidence of copyright is extremely important even when the works are automatically protected according to copyright law.
When registering, the work will get an application submission date, as well as information about the creation and proof of creative concept and development. This provides unambiguous proof of authorship and ownership that can’t be denied.
Proof of copyright is essential in an age when the publishing, dissemination, and theft of material is extremely easy with the exposure of the Internet.
If copyright registration is not made, copyright owners will lose a big amount of money as well as time attempting to fight copyright issues and prove ownership of the original work.
If the copyright owner has already registered for copyright protection to the IP office, they would have a strong legal foundation which would increase their chance of winning against the violating parties.
Documents for copyright registration in Israel
To obtain copyright registration in Israel, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Israel;
- Two copies of copyrighted work;
- Documents proving the right to apply;
- Written consent of co-authors, if the work has co-authors;
- Written consent of the co-owners, if the copyright is jointly owned;
- Notarized identity card of the author or owner of the work;
- Power of Attorney, if the applicant is an authorized person;
- Notarized copy of the company’s business registration certificate (if the owner is a company).
The copyright law of Israel
On November 19, 2007, the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) passed the Copyright Law, 5768-2007. This Law replaces the British Copyright Law of 1911 and the Mandate Ordinance of 1924. The 2007 Law became effective six months after publication.
The Law recognizes copyright as applicable to original creations – literary, artistic, dramatic, or musical – as well as recordings, as long as they have a link to Israel or are protected under a decree issued by the Minister of Justice in accordance with a treaty between Israel and another country.
As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Copyright Act, 2007 (as amended on July 28, 2011) as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of Israel. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database. It entered into force on 25 May 2008.
You can see a list of Israel IP firms here.