Let me preface this that I am no expert in halachah. Therefore, expect me to change positions frequently on this subject as I further refine the details.
If you have anything constructive to add to this discussion, please feel free to do so in the comments, and I'll be happy to add it to a future post.
With that aside, lets get started.
There is little basis for any concept of "intellectual property' in the Torah. The Gemara, as well, does not mention the idea.
The first instance of copyright law making its way into the Jewish psych was about 150 before copyright law came existence, in Europe.
In 1550, Rabbi Meir ben Isaac Katzenellenbogen of Padua (known by the Hebrewacronym, the “Maharam” of Padua) published a new edition of Moses Maimonides’seminal code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah. Katzenellenbogen invested significanttime, effort, and money in producing the edition. He and his son also added their owncommentary on Maimonides’ text. Since Jews were forbidden to print books in sixteenth-century Italy, Katzenellenbogen arranged to have his edition printed by a Christianprinter, Alvise Bragadini. Bragadini’s chief rival, Marc Antonio Giustiniani, respondedby issuing a cheaper edition that both copied the Maharam’s annotations and included anintroduction criticizing them. Katzenellenbogen then asked Rabbi Moses Isserles, European Jewry’s leading juridical authority of the day, to forbid distribution of the Giustiniani edition.
Since my goal is not to give a history lesson here, I'll try to still to relevant halachic ideas.
From my understanding of the Rema's ruling, he disallowed reprinting of books because of Hasagos Gevul (which roughly translates into: unfair trade practices).
He then issued a cherem (ban) on these who purchase the seforim, since the publisher was a non-Jew who would have no issue disobeying the ruling.
My initial take from this ruling (assuming the cherem is still in effect):
- Duplicating media for ones own use would not violate this Cherem.
- Duplicating media (without permission) for resale generally would violate this law.
- Uploading media to a file sharing website may be questionable.
This is all assuming that the cherem was comprehensive. According to some opinions, it only applied to sifrei kodesh.
Sources:
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