Civil Case 43860-02-24 Matti Caspi v. Avraham Salma

Judgment

1. Before a monetary claim in the amount of ILS 300,000.

In the statement of claim, it was argued, in summary, as follows:

2. The plaintiff is a well-known creator, singer, composer, arranger and music producer who owns copyright and morality in his works. The defendant is a candidate for mayor of Netanya.  It was claimed that the defendant used a familiar musical work of the plaintiff ("good reason") as part of an election campaign, without obtaining permission or giving credit, and even made a change in the melody and lyrics.
3. According to the lawsuit, the work was re-recorded with changes in lyrics and melody, and the defendant even performed it himself during the filming of a campaign video. The video was widely distributed publicly on social media, viewed hundreds of thousands of times and received a lot of exposure.  This created the impression that the plaintiff was politically supportive of the defendant, damaged his reputation and created forced identification with political messages.
4. The plaintiff claims that this is an infringement of his proprietary and moral copyrights; that the use is made for political and commercial purposes without the consent of the creator; that the infringement also includes distortion and alteration of the work, which constitute a violation of the moral right. The plaintiff referred to previous rulings in which it was determined that the use of songs in political campaigns without permission constitutes copyright infringement, and he petitions to require the defendant to compensate him with statutory damages without proof of damage in the sum of up to ILS 100,000 for each infringement, in addition to commercial torts, unjust enrichment, and damage to reputation - so that in total, the claim stands at ILS 300,000 together with legal expenses and attorney's fees.

In the statement of defense, it was argued as follows:

5. There is no real rivalry between the parties, because the plaintiff did not prove that he was the owner of the copyright in the work, and even if there were rights, the defendant did not knowingly act to infringe them.
6. The defendant, a candidate for mayor of Netanya, asked to use a re-enact of a familiar song during the election campaign. On September 5, 2023, an orderly request was made to the ACUM representative.  In the letter, it was clarified that this was the use of a new version of the song, for the purposes of a time-limited campaign.  In response, the ACUM office said it was "already under treatment" and the defendant believed that consent had been given or that the matter had been settled.
7. In light of the aforesaid, the defendant claims that he acted in good faith and in full faith that the use is permitted; Because he had no intention of infringing the copyright or making a commercial profit. According to his position, he would have accepted the offer to arrange the payment of royalties if it had been required.
8. The defendant added that the use of the song actually ended at the end of September 2023, and that the campaign was completely stopped after the war began in October 2023. Upon receipt of the warning letter (18 December 2023), the video was immediately removed from all media.
9. Therefore, the defendant seeks to apply to him the "innocent infringement" defense under section 58 of the Copyright Law, since he believed in good faith that the use was permitted. Alternatively, even if it is determined that there was a violation, only minimal compensation should be awarded, since this is a limited use of time, with no commercial intention or intentional harm.  The defendant denies the damages alleged by the plaintiff (damage to reputation, financial gains, forced political identification, etc.).
10. The attempt to negotiate between the parties was unsuccessful (as stated in the minutes of the hearing of October 13, 2024), but the parties succeeded in reaching a procedural arrangement that was appropriate and appropriate in the circumstances of the dispute, according to which the judgment would be given on the basis of the material in the file and after they submitted their summaries.

The Ottoman Settlement [Old Version] 1916