Advocate Eran Prezenti, one of the leading lawyers in the field of intellectual property, has passed away

Advocate Eran Prezenti, one of the leading lawyers in the field of intellectual property, passed away last night at the age of 56 from a heart attack, leaving behind a wife and three children. Prezenti was a partner and head of the intellectual property department at the Piron law firm and served as the legal advisor to the Zira organization, which operates against copyright infringement online. His funeral will take place tomorrow at the cemetery in Even Yehuda.

Advocate Zvi Piron, head of the Piron firm, stated today:

"All of us at the firm are shocked and pained by Eran's passing. It is hard to process that he is gone. Eran was a brilliant jurist, one of the best in his field, but above all, a dear and beloved person to whom everyone felt connected. A friend and partner on the path, with wisdom, sharpness, generosity, and a big heart. He was valued and liked by everyone who had the privilege of working with him and knowing him. Today we lost a dear friend, a valued partner, and a very special person."

Prezenti led the intellectual property field at the Piron firm. During his career, he represented Israeli and international companies, media and content bodies, creators, inventors, and artists in proceedings in the field of intellectual property. Prezenti, the son of Dr. Sarah Prezenti, an expert on intellectual property who authored some of the most important legal books in the field, began working on copyright protection from his first day as an intern at the family firm in 1997. He earned his bachelor's degree in law at the University of East London and his master's degree at Tel Aviv University.

Fighting against the distribution of pirate content

Prezenti's professional career developed largely alongside the technological changes that reshaped the world of copyright. As a young lawyer, he dealt with copyright infringements on tapes, and later on discs and DVDs. With the development of the internet, he moved to deal with download sites and the distribution of content online, and in 2005 he was involved in proceedings against sites and services that allowed access to pirate content. Since 2011, he served as the legal advisor to Zira, which unites Israeli media bodies and acts against copyright infringement online. He became one of the figures publicly identified with its activity, and led legal proceedings for it against pirate sites and services.

In 2016, Prezenti was interviewed by Globes and told about the beginning of his professional path and the fight against piracy. He was not deterred by the fact that the fight against piracy was not always popular among the public. In the interview, he said:

"On a personal level, it is a thankless job, because no one thinks that what I am doing is positive. It can even come up in jest from friends and colleagues who say things like, 'What, did you close our site?'. I know that I am perceived as the bad guy, but I try to convey the messages, because I truly believe in them on a personal and value-based level. People think that I am protecting the big bodies, but inside every Israeli movie or series, there are actors, screenwriters, directors, and musicians. All these factors receive royalties based on viewing the content. They do not receive money when you watch pirate content on the 'Sdarot' site. It is not just Keshet, Reshet, Yes, and Hot that do not receive money, it is the livelihood of these people, and they are harmed by it."

In that same interview, he told about an evening when he arrived as a parent to a movie screening at an elementary school. When the teacher connected a computer and screened a movie for the children that was downloaded from a pirate site, Prezenti was stunned. He explained then that for him, it is also a question of education and the message that adults convey to children. "It is something that is very important to me on a personal and moral level," he said.

Over the years, Prezenti was involved in a long series of legal battles against the distribution of pirate content. One of the central ones was against the "Sdarot" site, which became one of the most prominent sites for pirate viewing of Israeli and foreign content. In response to the fight that Prezenti waged against it, the site uploaded his picture while he was holding a box of popcorn, in a wink to another fight that Prezenti waged against the "Popcorn Time" software, which also allowed watching movies and series without paying the television companies. Prezenti fought to block access to the service through internet providers.