About the Book
Jewish copyright law is a rich body of copyright doctrine and jurisprudence that developed in parallel with Anglo-American and Continental European copyright laws and the printers' privileges that preceded them. Jewish copyright law traces its origins to a dispute adjudicated in 1550, over 150 years before modern copyright law is typically said to have emerged with the Statute of Anne of 1709. It continues to be applied today, notably in a rabbinic ruling outlawing pirated software, issued at Microsoft's request.
In From Maimonides to Microsoft, Professors Netanel and Nimmer trace the development of Jewish copyright law by relaying the stories of five dramatic disputes, running from the sixteenth century to the present. They describe each dispute in its historical context and examine the rabbinic rulings that sought to resolve it. Remarkably, these disputes address some of the same issues that animate copyright jurisprudence today: Is copyright a property right or a limited regulatory prerogative? What is copyright's rationale? What is its scope? How can copyright be enforced against an infringer who is beyond the applicable legal authority's reach?
This book introduces copyright scholars, students, and practitioners to an entirely new narrative and body of copyright jurisprudence. Presenting new material regarding the operation of the Jewish book trade and some of the leading disputes affecting it, Professors Netanel and Nimmer examine how copyright disputes arose from their respective historical contexts and, in turn, reverberated through Jewish life. From Maimonides to Microsoft examines how one area of Jewish law has developed in historical context and how Jewish copyright law compares with its Anglo-American and Continental European counterparts.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Note Regarding Translation and Transliteration
1 Introduction: Microsoft in Bnei Brak
2 From Privileges and Printers' Guilds to Copyright
3 Rabbinic Reprinting Bans: Between Ktav Da'at and Privilege
4 Maharam of Padua versus Giustiniani: Rival Editions of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah
5 Rabbinic Reprinting Bans Take Hold
6 From a Yiddish Bible to a German Prayer Book
7 Internecine Battles and the Slavuta Talmud
8 Moving Beyond Reprinting Bans: From Property to the Law of the Sovereign
9 The Present-Day Debate: Is Copyright Infringement "Stealing"?
Bibliography
Glossary
Index
About the Author :
Neil Weinstock Netanel is the Pete Kameron Endowed Chair in Law at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law where he writes and teaches in the areas of copyright, international intellectual property, and media and telecommunications. Prior to joining UCLA, Netanel served for a decade on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, where he was the Arnold, White & Durkee Centennial Professor of Law. He has
also taught at the law schools of Harvard University, Haifa University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv University, the University of Toronto, and New York University. He authored Copyright's Paradox (Oxford,
2008; Paperback, 2010); and he edited The Development Agenda: Global Intellectual Property and Developing Countries (Oxford, 2008).
Review :
"Neil Netanel's From Maimonides to Microsoft takes us on an exciting journey from the beginnings of Jewish legal experts' coping with copyright issues, a few decades after the birth of print, to nineteenth-century European Humanism. ... of great interest not only to the legal expert but also to the historian of Judaism." -- George Y. Kohler, The Journal of Law and Religion
"Neil Netanel's From Maimonides to Microsoft is a masterful, rigorous exploration of Jewish copyright law. Netanel weaves past and present, history and theory, into an intricate socio-legal fabric, as he unearths the making of rabbinic copyright law. The book meticulously traces the complex interactions of a community's law with external authorities, framed as a dynamic process of legal transplantation. The result is the intriguing case of Jewish
copyright, and this engaging book." -Michael Birnhack, Professor of Law, Tel Aviv University
"Neil Netanel follows Jewish copyright law from the very advent of print to the digital age. His contextualization of developments in terms of history and the laws of the societies in which Jews lived make this an exceptionally rich and rewarding read. Enviably well-versed in the language and debates of modern copyright law, Netanel contrasts and compares Jewish and secular jurisprudence through the ages and ultimately offers conclusions about changes in
traditional Jewish life that make this much more than just a legal history." -Edward Fram, Solly Yellin Chair of Lithuanian and East European Jewish Culture, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
"A fascinating archeological journey revealing how 'the People of the Book' came to balance protection for printers and authors with competition. Netanel has unearthed, made accessible, and illuminated a trove of rabbinic materials tracing moral, human, religious, and economic foundations of a Jewish law of copyright. This remarkable scholarly achievement, decades in the making, delivers rich source material and insight for historians, comparative law
scholars, and copyright theorists for decades to come." -Peter S. Menell, Koret Professor of Law, University of California at Berkeley School of Law
"From Maimonides to Microsoft is an outstanding achievement, drawing on recent advances in the history of printed books, the academic study of rabbinic law, and comparative legal studies to present a comprehensive overview of the development of a Jewish law of copyright. Netanel offers the first thorough discussion of key concepts in Jewish discourse that emerged to contend with the new technology and business of print, which differed so dramatically
from the world of manuscript production. His account of contemporary rabbinic debates regarding new digital media further illuminates how rabbinic traditionalists have grappled with rapid technological change."
-Adam Shear, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, and Director of Jewish Studies, University of Pittsburgh, and Founding Convener, Lillian Goldman Scholars Working Group on the Jewish Book, Center for Jewish History
"From Maimonides to Microsoft is a meticulously researched and artfully presented account of the history of copyright law as it has developed under the watchful eyes of rabbinic authority. Netanel>'s treatment, which continually underscores the importance of historical circumstances and environmental context, is undoubtedly useful to copyright and comparative-law scholars. But it is foremost a contribution to our understanding of halakhah, both in theory
and practice. Netanel is to be commended for mining a rich yet largely unexplored vein in Jewish law. Both Netanel>'s efforts and those of the rabbis he writes about are sure to increase in value." -Roberta
Rosenthal Kwall, Commentary Magazine
"To say that Netanel's book is a work of substantial historical scholarship is an understatement...This is an excellent and enjoyable read, and it is proof that scholarship and pleasure can go hand in hand." -Jeremy Phillips, IPKat Blog
"Netanel's thought-provoking work, which richly contextualizes Jewish and secular copyright law within their historical and philosophical bases, is a compelling read for students and scholars of copyright law, Jewish law, and Jewish history." -Harvard Law Review
"Unlike a number of very recent authorities who were unable to conceptualize copyright law, Netanel does not fail his readers. He succinctly posits two basic schools of rabbinic thought concerning the nature of copyright law and translates the language of classical Jewish law into modern legal terms... Netanel takes the reader on a long and fascinating journey through the early modern period to the present." - Edward Fram, Jewish History
"This well-written and enjoyable book shows an impressive familiarity with classical Jewish texts, rabbinic responsa, secular copyright law, European and Jewish history and the development of the printing industry." -Michael Factor, Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice
"It is highly recommended and should be a crucial resource for anyone interested in rabbinic law and its European context, in addition to those more specifically interested in the "evolution" (Netanel's term) of Jewish law regarding intellectual property." - Gabriel Levy, Numen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
"This reviewer came away enriched from Netanel's discussion, both in terms of the historical narrative presented and the analysis of 'copyright' in a comparative law context. Readers are urged to have their encounter with Netanel's text; you will not be disappointed." Neil Wilkof, The Trademark Reporter
