Sessions Information

  • January 3, 2018
    1:30 pm - 3:15 pm
    Session Type: Section Programs
    Session Capacity: N/A
    Hotel: N/A
    Room: Pacific Ballroom Salon 25
    Floor: North Tower/Ground Level

    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. 

Session Speakers
New York University School of Law
Moderator and Speaker

University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
Speaker

The Ohio State University, Michael E. Moritz College of Law
Speaker

Session Fees
  • [3120] Jewish Law - Copyright and Jewish Law: $0.00