upon the issue of time lost(Mishneh Torah Hil. Talmud Torah 3.11; Shulhan Arukh Hoshen Mishpat 9.5). The intellectual effort of teaching was to be compensated. The student’s progress was seen as a value which demanded compensation. However, any written product created by a scholar was not protected though the author may have been paid for his effort of teaching children. The only indication of something akin to copyright was a decision by Isaac Alfasi (10131105) who stated that a scholar’s efforts should not be copied without permission(Alfasi , Responsa# 133). As the rabbinate became professionalized and as his communal role expanded and left no time to earn a living through something else, thinking changes. In modem times. as we shall see, this led to compensation for the product of the intellect, usually a book; however, that road was far from direct.
A major change occurred through Gutenberg ’s invention of the movable type(1439) and the revolution in printing. The new technology spread rapidly and was immediately seen as an enormous step forward. Jews embraced it quickly as the Jewish tradition has always encouraged access to books, so anything which furthered this was welcome. Prior to Gutenberg ’s invention, every author hoped that his“intellectual property” would be widely distributed and read, but the spread of ideas both practical and theoretical had always been slow as it was limited to personal contacts, correspondence or hand copied books. The means of distribution changed only a few times in human history. The limits of oral distribution were extended through writing, first though inscriptions on stone, eventually on clay, a more readily available substance. Mass distribution awaited the use of parchment (skin) or some form of paper as papyrus. The next step was the scroll which enabled the ready distribution and storage of longer texts and then the revolution of the book with its easily handled pages. That simple invention simplified both reading and copying as various parts of a book could be copied simultaneously. There were, of course advantages for the reader as well.