Jewish copyright law emerged in the 16th century through a series of rabbinic rulings and reprinting bans, as well as decrees of Jewish communal councils. In the process, rabbis borrowed from the template of early modern book privileges and, later, secular copyright law, even as they imbued that template with halakhic doctrine. Today, rabbis debate whether Jewish copyright law recognizes a right of literary property in authors or a more limited right against wrongful competition.

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