In 1998, Microsoft
petitioned a rabbinic court in Bnei-Brak for a ruling that commercial piracy of
software violates Jewish law. The court’s one-paragraph ruling proclaims that
rabbis have ruled on similar questions since the dawn of print. Jewish
copyright law is a rich body of jurisprudence that developed in parallel with
modern copyright laws and the book privileges that preceded them. It owes its
origins to a reprinting ban that the Rome rabbinic court issued for three books
of Hebrew grammar in 1518. Jewish copyright law continues to be applied today,
notably in the rabbinic ruling issued in response to Microsoft's request.
Professor Neil Weinstock Netanel’s new book, From Maimonides to Microsoft: The Jewish Law of Copyright Since the
Birth of Print, traces the emergence and historical development of this
Jewish law of copyright. He places Jewish copyright law in the context of the
Jewish book trade, the precariousness of Jewish communal autonomy, and the
influence of modern copyright law and of secular and papal book privileges on
key rabbinic rulings. The program will include a presentation by the author,
followed by commentary by Professors Jeanne Fromer and Guy Rub.
Business meeting a program conclusion.