The Dead Sea Scrolls Controversy - Originality in Copyright Law, the “Ownership” of Scholarly Research, and the Impact on Use of Religious Texts

I received the following by email recently. It looks like an interesting talk. I remember a while back reading a translation of Targum Onkelos, with the Aramaic on one side and the English on the other, in which the author said he could not use Sperber's critical text on the Aramaic side, because of copyright issues, but would note in footnotes where (A) Sperber changes something. I don't know whether or not this is the current situation as well. (See here for some Targumim.)

BENJAMIN N. CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW • YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
Program in Intellectual Property, Entertainment and Media Law
and The Program in Jewish Law and Interdisciplinary Studies
The Dead Sea Scrolls Controversy:
Originality in Copyright Law, the “Ownership” of Scholarly Research, and the Impact on Use of Religious Texts
An Evening Symposium with
Burns Senior Lecturer David Nimmer
David Nimmer is the current author of Nimmer on Copyright, the
standard reference treatise in the field, and is a Visiting Professor at
UCLA Law School. Nimmer on Copyright was first published by his
late father, Professor Melville B. Nimmer, and is routinely cited by
U.S. and foreign courts at all levels in copyright litigation. David
Nimmer is also the author of Copyright in the Dead Sea Scrolls:
Authorship and Originality [38 Houston Law Review 1-217 (2001)].

PANELISTS
Moshe J. Bernstein, Professor of Bible, Yeshiva University (moderator)
Lawrence H. Schiffman, Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, NYU
Rabbi Jeremy Wieder, Professor of Talmud, Yeshiva University
Diane L. Zimmerman, Professor of Law, NYU
Monday, April 11, 2005
6:00 pm
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
55 Fifth Avenue (at 12th Street)
Informal Reception to Follow
For more information, please contact Joe Goetz, Executive Director, Program in
Intellectual Property, Cardozo School of Law
212-790-0207 or jgoetz1 at yu dot edu
(link here)