another printer in Sulzbach recognized the possibilities of these books and soon printed them as well.
Heidenheim and his friends felt that his work deserved protection as he had devoted many years to this task. This was not merely the republication of a work already in the public domain. As the civil authorities in the splintered lands of Germany could not provide it, Heidenheim sought approbations from Hatam Sofer (1762-1 839) and Mordecai Banet which provided twenty-five years of protection. As the period of governmental enforcement of religious authorities was largely over, these efforts made little difference, but Heidenheim was helped by the popularity of his prayerbook which quickly outsold the competition. The Roedelheim edition could claim to be the“genuine original” and sold very well. A pattern which has been repeated often with books and other commercial products. The controversy demonstrated the shortcomings of protection.” The Roedelheim publishing house continued to provide versions of their prayer book, eventually in more than 80 editions which continue to be published to this day.
Concern for authors proceeded, so Saul Nathanson (1808-1875) took this a step further and extended a copyright through the lifetime of the author and to his descendants.(Helek Alef 44); his contemporary, Joseph Margolis , agreed. He based his decision on the biblical prohibition against moving“your neighbor’s border stones”(Deut. 19.14: 27.17; Is. 42.17" This responsum for the first time equated intellectual creations with physical property as it sought to protect the author.
In the nineteenth century a distinction began to be made between publication of original works and new editions of classics basic 0 Jewish studies. The rabbinic authorities were primarily interested in providing such works inexpensively. However, this laudable goal became problematic with the publication of the multi-volume Talmud :