In recent time few responsa on this theme have appeared, among them is a statement from Moshe Feinstein (on copyrighting a cassette; he ruled that permission for use must be given and affirmed the secular law.(Igerot Moshe Orah Hayyim Vol.4# 40 Section 19). Some academic discussion continues. Such discussions restricted to the world of the printed book could have been expanded to other areas which now concern us, but that did not occur.
Consumer Protection and the Poor
Statutes and copyrights shield“intellectual property” and its creator, but they do not protect the consumer. This has become especially important when we look beyond the limited realm of books which are, after all not a necessity of life. Matters are very different when we turn to medical treatments, pharmaceuticals, advanced agriculture technologies and a good deal else.
Here we must reemphasize the biblical concerns which wished to deal with the practical problems of rural poverty and as an ultimate goal sought to re-balance society through the sabbatical laws, the Jubilee, and the prohibition against taking interest. However these statements, as we have seen remained as hortatory guides, but they were never expanded into legally enforceable norms. They remained as noble goals. However, this represents a major concern for us.
The Mishnah, however, recorded a practical approach to the problems of the urban poor for whom gleanings and other efforts were meaningless. It took the path of communal legislation. When such legislation appeared, no effort was made to discover a biblical basis for it. The necessary statutes along with a vigorous enforcing mechanism were simply enacted and enforced as if they had always been there and no effort was made to discover a source for them. We therefore suddenly have a revolutionary system of governmental controls carried out for the good of the community. It provided for