Israel: “New Legislation Allows Israeli Cultural Institutions Greater Freedom to Digitize Their Archives – Without Fear of Lawsuits”

From The Jerusalem Post:

Now, following an amendment to the Copyright Law passed in the Knesset on January 1, the library and other cultural institutions in Israel will have much greater freedom to digitize and share their vast holdings without the fear of lawsuits. Those who lobbied for the amendment – including the National Library – said that the legislation brings Israel in line with the European Union, Canada and others.

[Clip]

There are two components of the amendment that are being celebrated by the National Library and other Israeli cultural institutions. The first allows for “orphan works” – whose author cannot be located after a diligent search – to be made digitally accessible. The second states that cultural and educational institutions can only be sued for violation of copyright if it can be proven that the use of such works caused monetary damage to the author or copyright holder.

“This will allow us in the coming years to be able to do something [that] we haven’t tried to do until today,” said Noam Solan, the copyright manager at the National Library of Israel. “Our emphasis is to make books accessible – most of the literature that has been published in the State of Israel is not known or accessible, and we think that’s unfortunate. There’s a vast wealth out there.”

Read the Complete Article (approx. 1000 words)

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Libraries, National Libraries, News