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Insights & News / Ran Karmi
Copyright: US Court Rejects Some of the Claims against OpenAI
Copyrights: The New York Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft
United States: Can AI Systems Hold Copyrights?
Who owns the copyright to an AI-generated image—the creator, the technology, or no one? A recent court ruling in the United States determines that the right to copyright protection depends on the degree of human involvement in the work.
Merging without Approval: Strauss Group Might Pay ILS 111 million
According to the Competition Authority’s Director General, the negative covenants included in the merger agreement between Strauss Group and Wyler Farm raise concerns of harm to competition, and the parties began implementing the merger before receiving approval.
Competition Law: Massive Fines for Harming Parallel Imports
The amendment is part of the government’s efforts to bring down the cost of living by increasing competition in the import sector. However, the amendment also imposes considerable restrictions on direct importers.
Unprecedented Sanction for Failing to Provide a Full Response to the Israel Competition Authority’s Demand for Data
This is not the first time the Israel Competition Authority has imposed sanctions on companies that fail to respond adequately to its demands for data. However, this is the highest sum ever imposed for such a violation and approaches the maximum the ICA’s Director General may impose in this regard.
Algorithm-Based Pricing – the Next Challenge in Competition Law?
The uptrend in the use of algorithm-based pricing tools is increasing competition concerns, especially wherever market concentration is high. Are competition laws equipped to deal with this situation?
100% Lizzo – Talking about Phrases and Trademarks
The American singer Lizzo succeeded in registering a trademark in the United States on the phrase “100% That B*tch,” taken from her 2017 song. The trademark was granted subsequent to an appeal, and may create uncertainty as to the scope of the protection provided under copyright and trademark laws.
Stricter Review and Enforcement of Vertical Resale Price Maintenance Arrangements
The Israel Competition Authority is imposing a stricter policy against resale price maintenance arrangements, and increases enforcement in this area, to make the market more competitive.
Abstract Elements and Trademark Dilution – Adidas versus Thom Browne
Everyone knows Adidas’s famous three parallel stripes logo, including US fashion designer Thom Browne. Despite this, Browne introduced a parallel stripes motif in his designs. In 2021, Adidas sued him for breaching its intellectual property rights. Last month, a Manhattan jury found Thom Browne did not commit trademark infringement and that Adidas would have to make do with ownership of only the three-stripe design.
Israel: Monopoly Fined for Unfair Excessive Price
The Israeli Competition Director General fined MBI and company officers after they spiked the price of a life-saving drug called Leadiant by hundreds of percentage points.
Is AI-Based Pricing a Detriment to Competitiveness?
The increasing commercial use of AI-based pricing engines will place new challenges before Israel’s competition authorities, both due to concerns about the creation of new means of price coordination between competitors, and, perhaps primarily, because such pricing engines intensify the competition failures that already exist, especially in low-competition markets. Gal Rozent and Ran Karmi elaborate on these challenges in an op-ed for Calcalist.
2022: Antitrust and Competition in Israel – A Year in Review
2022 was characterized by many trends relating to competition law in Israel. Ramped up handling of monopolies, unfair pricing and restrictive trade practices, and enhanced collaboration between Israeli government ministries and the Competition Authority are just some of the trends we witnessed during 2022 in this field.
Competition and Antitrust: Gal Rozent and Ran Karmi Article in Calcalist
Money laundering allegations against bid competitors convicted of coordinating a tender (coupled with charges of competition law offenses and fraud) may lead to aggravated penalties compares to those imposed on “regular” antitrust offenders. The Competition Authority’s decision to freeze and confiscate assets by virtue of Israel’s Anti-Money Laundering Law will exert heavy pressure, both financial and mental, on those under investigation and indictment. Read Gal Rozent and Ran Karmi’s article on the issue in Calcalist.
Israeli Supreme Court: Monopolies May Be Sued for Charging Unfair Excessive Prices
Israeli district courts have already recognized the possibility of suing a monopoly for charging an unfair excessive price, but the Israeli Supreme Court’s recognition of this cause of action ends defendants’ potential arguments for opposing this very possibility.
Israeli Draft Bill Obligates Monopolists to Publish Financial Statements
The striking innovation in this draft bill is that, upon its enactment, monopolists, even if not declared as such, must publish their financial statements, even if they are not reporting companies.
Israeli Supreme Court Limits Possibility of Pleading Reliance on Assistance of Counsel as Defense against Indictment
The Supreme Court issued a ruling in principle that it sees no merit in the approach of releasing a person who breached the law from criminal liability based on the fact his or her lawyer failed to warn that the planned action was criminal.