Title
The Dead Sea Scrolls Case: Who Is an Author?
Abstract
Who is the author of ancient texts that have been carefuly deciphered by living scholars? The Dead Sea Scrolls case exemplifies this question. The Israeli Supreme Court awarded copyright to the scholar, Professor Elisha Qimron. The decision (August 2000) portrays Qimron as the quintessential romantic author and does not shy away from admiring Qimron’s work. In fact, it treats him in an almost religious way. By so doing, the decision tilts the understanding of Israeli copyright law from its Anglo-American normative-utilitarian basis towards a labor-based notion. The legal vehicle of this shift is the reinterpretation of the requirement of originality in copyright law. This paper argues that the Court erred in its interpretation of the requirement of originality, an error that has a regrettable cost in terms of freedom of speech, cultural diversity and control over the meaning of knowledge.
Disciplines
Intellectual Property
Date of this Version
January 2008
Recommended Citation
Michael D. Birnhack, "The Dead Sea Scrolls Case: Who Is an Author?" (January 2008). Tel Aviv University Law Faculty Papers. Working Paper 63.
http://law.bepress.com/taulwps/art63
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Comments
Michael D. Birnhack. "The Dead Sea Scrolls Case: Who Is an Author?" EUROPEAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REVIEW 23.3 (2001): 128. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/michael_birnhack/11