Jewish Law and IP

July 24, 2009
Intellectual Property News and Interesting Facts

The concept of IP’s origins can potentially be traced back a long way. For example, Jewish law includes several considerations whose effects are similar to those of modern intellectual property laws, though the notion of intellectual creations as property does not seem to exist – notably the principle of Hasagat Ge’vul (unfair encroachment) was used to justify limited-term publisher (but not author) copyright in the 16th century. The Talmud contains the prohibitions against certain mental crimes, notably Geneivat da’at (literally “mind theft”), which some have interpreted as prohibiting theft of ideas, though the doctrine is principally concerned with fraud and deception, not property.