From Maimonides to Microsoft: The Jewish Law of Copyright Since the Birth of Print

“From Maimonides to Microsoft:

The Jewish Law of Copyright Since the Birth of Print“

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

In his new book From Maimonides to Microsoft, Professor Netanel traces the historical development of Jewish copyright law by comparing rabbinic reprinting bans with secular and papal book privileges and by relaying the stories of dramatic disputes among publishers of books of Jewish learning and liturgy. He describes each dispute in its historical context and examines the rabbinic rulings that sought to resolve it. Remarkably, the rabbinic reprinting bans and copyright rulings address some of the same issues that animate copyright jurisprudence today: Is copyright a property right or just a right to receive fair compensation? How long should copyrights last? What purposes does copyright serve? While Jewish copyright law has borrowed from its secular law counterpart at key junctures, it fashions strikingly different answers to those key questions.

SPEAKER 

Neil W. Netanel

Pete Kameron Professor of Law

Neil Netanel teaches and writes in the areas of copyright, free speech, international intellectual property, and telecommunications law and policy. His recent books and book projects include Copyright’s Paradox (Oxford University Press, 2008); The Development Agenda: Global Intellectual Property and Developing Countries (Neil Weinstock Netanel ed., Oxford University Press, 2008); From Maimonides to Microsoft: The Jewish Law of Copyright Since the Birth of Print(Oxford University Press, 2016); and The Battles Over Copyright (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2017).

Professor Netanel joined the UCLA School of Law faculty in fall 2004. Prior to joining UCLA Law, 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. From 1980 to 1981, Netanel was Assistant to the General Counsel of the State of Israel’s Environmental Protection Service. He then practiced law at Loeb and Loeb in Los Angeles (1981-84) and Yigal Arnon & Co. in Tel-Aviv (1985 to 1992). Professor Netanel received his B.A. from Yale University (1976), J.D. from UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law (1980), and J.S.D. from Stanford University (1998).

PRICE

Free

Co-SPONSORED BY:

Jewish Bar Association of San Francisco

Program will satisfy 1 CA CLE credit pending approval by the State Bar of California.