Copyright registration and protection in Israel
Copyright registration and protection in Israel
Copyright registration is one of the forms of acquisition and protection of intellectual property. As we know, musical, literary, dramatic and other works of art are not only cultural heritage, but also material value, which needs to be confirmed, registered and protected.
How to register copyright in Israel ?
A peculiarity of the legal regulation of copyright in Israel is that the state registration of copyrights is not legally defined. Neither the Copyright Law of 2007, nor various bylaws, nor numerous precedents of the Supreme Court of Israel concerning intellectual property rights provide for any unified or official state register for registration of copyrights. A similar situation exists today with the protection of intellectual property in Russia: neither the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, nor the 4th part of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which replaced it, provide for any single state register of registered rights to musical, literary and dramatic works. In most Western countries there have long existed official state registers-depositories for registration of copyrights to virtually any form of intellectual property, both classical musical, literary and dramatic works, and more modern works of the human mind like ring tones for cell phones, digital art and spaceship design. The world’s most famous and largest copyright registry for works of art and intellectual property is the American National Register of Copyrights at the Library of Congress. In the American register can be registered copyrights not only American authors, but also Israeli, Russian and other authors and / or copyright owners who are not the authors of the work, wishing to maximize the protection of their copyrights in intellectual property at the international level. In principle, in order for authorship of a work to be recognized for a certain person, it is sufficient for him to publicly declare himself as the creator of the work. However, such a declaration without registration or other confirmation of authorship and the moment of creation of the work entails a lot of violations of copyright: unauthorized copying and use of works, misappropriation of authorship by other persons, plagiarism, etc.
In the absence of a unified state register of copyrights in Israel, the most official and most reliable method of registration and protection of copyrights in Israel is notarization and certification of the fact of creation of a work with deposit of a copy of the work (notes, manuscript, script, etc.) in the depository of a licensed Israeli notary engaged in registration of copyrights. Such registration actually replaces the open publication of the work and is the official proof of both the fact of creation and the moment of publicizing the work by the author. According to the Israeli Notary Law of 1976, a notarial declaration of copyright by a licensed Israeli notary is an official Israeli document subject to any form of international legalization, including Apostille, and accordingly may be presented as proof of copyright before any foreign and international authorities. Provided by the Israeli Notary Law, the indefinite storage of the declaration of copyright with a copy of the work in the depository at the notary ensures not only the reliability of this form of copyright registration in Israel, but also the possibility to restore the original form of the work in case of its loss, as well as to confirm the copyright even after the death of the author.
Transfer, gift and sale of copyrights in Israel can also be carried out through a licensed Israeli attorney-notary with the subsequent deposit and perpetual storage in the notarial registry of the document confirming the fact of full or partial transfer of copyright in the work and intellectual property.
It is also possible to register the rights of Israeli and Russian authors in the American State Register of Copyrights at the Library of Congress regardless of the language and form of the work, as well as the registration of rights to the work by persons and organizations other than the original authors.
It should be noted that the above mentioned methods of copyright registration are not exhaustive. Since, as already mentioned, state registration of copyrights in Israel and Russia is not provided for, there are other legal mechanisms for registration and fixation of copyright rights to various works and forms of intellectual property. Where and how to register copyrights – this decision should be made taking into account the specific plans and capabilities of the author and/or copyright owner.
Legal support of copyright registration in Israel and abroad, despite the demand for it, is not provided by all Israeli law firms. Due to the complexity of the definition and legal settlement of relations related to intellectual property and copyrights, as well as the high cost of perpetual maintenance of the depository and copyright registry, most Israeli notaries are not able to provide services for copyright registration in Israel.
Since 2014, the Israeli law and notary office “E. Reznikov & Partners provides services for perpetual deposit of works of art and intellectual property in any language, registration of authorship and transfer of copyrights of both Israeli and foreign authors. We also provide services for registration of copyrights in the American National Register of Copyrights, including for copyright owners who are not original authors.
