Israel Antitrust Authority joins fight against piracy

The Israel Antitrust Authority (IAA) has cleared the way for a group of prominent video content publishers and distributors to join forces in fighting online piracy. IAA issued a decision according to which such companies can establish a joint venture to handle the campaign against Internet piracy and enforce their intellectual property rights. Without IAA's permit, their joint operation might have been considered an unlawful cartel. The permit is valid for three years. The group of content publishers and distributors includes companies such as the Israeli operators of Channels 2 & 10, Cloud Communications, Dori Media, United King, Gold Zebra Communications, Charlton and others. They intend to take action against websites that extensively violate their IP rights. The group will trace and monitor such websites, locate their owners, collect evidence and file claims for copyright infringement. The group is open for new members to join, subject to them being in the production and publishing field for a period of at least two years. IAA's permit is subject to a few conditions, most of them regarding limitations on commercial collaboration between the group members. Additional conditions prohibit unreasonable restrictions on new members. Source: Anti-Trust Authority. The Permit (Hebrew).