AKUM – the Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers of Music in Israel, together with the French guild Sacem, which protects the copyrights of many Arab musicians around the world, is suing Nazareth-based Kul al-Arab,Israel’s leading Arabic-language media outlets for one million shekels, claiming copyright violation.
Akum claims that Kul al-Arab has not paid royalties for hundreds of songs its online radio station has played and that it allows website users to illegally download songs for their unlimited use.
The Haifa District Court has imposed a temporary injunction prohibiting Kul al-Arab from making any use of the musical repertoire created by Acum members. The temporary injunction specifically targets the Kul al-Arab website, which the suit says “serves as a platform for callous copyright violation.”
“Acum represents all artists from every sector of the population, so any media outlet that violates the copyright law will be targeted,” said Acum CEO Yorik Ben David. “The owners of Kul al-Arab do this consistently and callously, and the time has come for them to give an account for this to the artists who have been harmed by their actions.” “The website features more than 800 music videos, more than 10,000 musical compositions, hundreds of movies and hundreds of TV shows,” the suit claims, alleging that anyone who goes to the site can download pirated copies of copyrighted compositions and use them with no restrictions, licenses or payment to those who own the copyright.
