As Canada awaits a new copyright bill that is expected within the next couple of weeks, Israel just passed its own copyright reform package. It neatly avoids anti-circumvention legislation, but inclueds new rights for backup copies, interoperability, consumer rights with photographers, and drops crown copyright.
Israel Amends Copyright Law
November 26, 2007
Share this post
3 Comments
![Law Bytes](https://www.michaelgeist.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Project.png)
Law Bytes
Episode 210: Meredith Lilly on the Trade Risks Behind Canada’s Digital Services Tax and Mandated Streaming Payments
byMichael Geist
![Episode 210: Meredith Lilly on the Trade Risks Behind Canada’s Digital Services Tax and Mandated Streaming Payments](https://www.michaelgeist.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Project.png)
July 15, 2024
Michael Geist
June 24, 2024
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 210: Meredith Lilly on the Trade Risks Behind Canada’s Digital Services Tax and Mandated Streaming Payments
Abandoning Institutional Neutrality: Why the University of Windsor Encampment Agreements Constrain Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 209: Peter Menzies on Why the Canadian News Sector is Broken and How to Fix It
Why the University of Windsor Encampment Agreement Violates Antisemitism and Academic Freedom Standards
Know When to Fold Em: The Big Risk Behind Canada’s Digital Services Tax Bet
An example of sensible legislation!
Unfortunately, I see little hope that our own government will adopt similar reforms.
What little information I have read about the pending bill leads me to believe, that once again the interests of the music/entertainment industry will be supported, to the detriment of the general public.
It appears that the rights/need/wishes of the average citizen are easily overlooked.
@old bill,
It seems mostly sensible, but I wonder if their parliament demanded that media purchased by the consume be open to conversion from one for to another? That bit about anti-circumvention could really come to bite people in the ass when media providers heavily encrypt their goods, thus preventing fair use.
@James H,
No, there is no requirement in the law that digital media is open to conversion.
I don\’t see any problem with it, because:
1. Fair use is not a legal right on its own, it\’s just an exception to copyright law. It\’s a legal defense against copyright infringement, not something you must always be able to do. Media companies are allowed to sell encrypted content and the market can decide whether that\’s acceptable.
2. Not all local record labels in Israel sell digital tracks, but those that do sell them as high-quality unencrypted MP3s. The local market here skipped the whole DRM mess and went straight where the U.S. market will eventually arrive (I\’m not sure where the Canadian market is). So digital restrictions on content (at least music) are simply not an issue here.