82 / 114
82 The US-Israel Legal Review 2019
ISRAEL: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
I
ntellectual Property (IP) is an important if not
essential tool in the vibrant Israeli knowledge
based economy. Many times, the main assets
of an entrepreneurial initiative are patents,
designs, trademarks, copyright or trade secrets.
Innovation is prevalent in all walks of business as
well as government in Israel. The Israel Innovation
Authority (formerly the Office of the Chief
Scientist) together with the Israel Patents Office
(ILPO) have put in place many reforms to alleviate
regulative burdens in providing innovation related
operations and installing innovation into the
processes themselves. The local IP related legal
services have not gone unaffected and the field is
undergoing many changes in view of innovative
law-tech tools and in view of market expectation
for streamlining while maintaining quality.
Enforcement of IP rights in Israel is carried out
in the courts. There is no one officially appointed
IP-specialized instance, though there are several
Judges who have gained experience in the field. As
a rule, courts are inclined to explore alternative
dispute resolution means and many matters are
diverted to mediation or arbitration. The Customs
have gained a relatively effective track record
having powers to stop shipments of goods allegedly
infringing trademarks, copyright and design.
The following is a general overview of the fields
of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Copyright
and neighboring rights. In addition, it is well
worth noting that trade secret litigation in Israel
has become quite useful through the years. This
is especially so following the enactment of the
Commercial Torts Law in 1999 which provides for
trade-secret enforcement and, inter alia, provides
for effective court orders for seizing evidence at
initial temporary relief stages (resembling the
common law Anton Piller order).
PATENTS
The Israel Patent Law of 1967 has undergone
several amendments through the years. The latest
rounds of 2011, 2012 and 2017 concerned twomain
topics: the adjustment of the law to enable the ILPO
to operate as an International Searching Authority
and International Preliminary Examination
Authority
(ISA/IPEA)
under
the
Patent
Cooperation Treaty (PCT); and addressing patent
termextension (PTE) in the field of pharmaceutical
inventions. Accordingly, adjustments were made to
the Patents Regulations. Arrangements were made
to enable the ILPO to launch in December 2016 its
long-awaited online patent filing and prosecution
service. These legislation and administrative
changes have contributed to the streamlining of
the patent prosecution process in Israel – evidently
over the past ten years the amount of patent grants
to patent applications filed in Israel has risen
~150%, while the pendency as well as actual
examination times are constantly decreasing.
Since start of its operations as ISA/IPEA in
June of 2012, the ILPO has handled over 4,300
international search reports (ISR) while the
number of PCT applications made by Israelis is
Intellectual Property Law in
Israel –AnOverview
Intellectual property is a vital part of Israel’s economy.
Asa Kling outlines the many changes currently taking place
in the country’s IP legal services.