A candidate for the mayor of Kfar Saba used the song "Siba Tova," composed by Matti Caspi, in a political campaign video distributed on social media without authorization from the composer and without approval or payment of royalties to ACUM (Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers in Israel), despite his outreach to them.
The Court accepted the lawsuit due to the infringement of copyrights. The Israeli Copyright law sets that the author of a work is the first owner of the copyright in the work and that the author also has a moral right in his creation; in the event that a copyright or a moral right was infringed, if the infringer was innocent and did not know at the time of the infringement that a copyright exists in the work, he shall not be liable for damages due to the infringement. The author's right is that no defect is cast upon his work and no distortion or other modification of form shall be made to it and also that no derogatory action shall be taken in relation to that work, all if any of these are likely to harm the honor or the reputation of the author. The role of the royalty companies is the collection of royalties for the use of the work only. In this case, the candidate infringed upon the economic and moral rights of Matti Caspi by using the melody in a political campaign without authorization, while making alterations to the lyrics and melody and all without providing required attribution. The 'innocent infringer' defense is not available, as the candidate was aware of the existence of the rights when he contacted ACUM. The political use and the modifications to the work harmed the creator's reputation and dignity, and the candidate is to pay ILS 70,000 statutory damages for the infringements.