More good news folks, it seems in Israel the Cartel is going to have to provide proof to back its claims of infringement in the future, and the current limit for damages is to change.
http://2jk.org/english/?p=72 Tommorow, the Israeli Knesset’s Economics committee will discuss the new Israeli Copyright Act. while many artists protest against this Act, I feel obliged to point out one substantial advantage in this act. If accepted as written now, the Act goes a giant step towards file-sharers in Israel. One of the artists’ complaints is against the annulment of statutory damages under the new act.
This legislation’s implications are serious since they actually request any lawsuit for copyright infringement to first show not only cause, but also damage.
For the consumer, leaving the statutory damages away from the new act will only do good. It will motivate free initiative and creation and deter suing random file sharers or usage for private matter and personal use. This might be the best way to reach a new compromise in copyright
To put this bluntly, its my opinion this peice of law is fair and reasonable, folks have always held that a punishment must fit the crime and unlike in the US where they rely on a lot of Hollywood/media dollars to keep the goverment afloat, mere consumers who have the equivalent of 24 dollars worth of music on their drives are not asked to finance the US national debt.
Lets hope this one hits the statute books there.
