10th December 2009 - Tel Aviv - IFPI Israel has reached a major legal settlement with 10 copyright infringing online services. The organisation, which represents the recorded music industry in Israel, had filed court proceedings against the services which illegally provided links to unlicensed local and international repertoire hosted on cyberlockers.

The settlement is unprecedented in its scope, with Israeli courts issuing broad permanent injunctions prohibiting the individuals involved from copying, distributing, linking or ripping onto MP3 or other formats any copyright infringing repertoire. Ownership of all domains that were used to infringe copyright will pass to IFPI Israel. The settlement also involves the payment of around US$50,000 in compensation.

The infringing content and websites were all hosted outside the country, predominantly in the Netherlands and IFPI Israel’s legal action followed a lengthy investigation.

Jeremy Banks, director, anti-piracy at IFPI, says: “This settlement shows that IFPI Israel will take action when local rights owners’ livelihoods are being undermined by illegal services, even when these are based outside the country. The hosting of copyright infringing content on cyberlockers is a major issue for rights owners worldwide and individuals involved