4.0667 Court case -- "Tora Treasure" CD-ROM (1/26)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 31 Oct 90 22:59:33 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0667. Wednesday, 31 Oct 1990.
Date: Tuesday, 30 October 1990 2249-EST
From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS
Subject: Courtcase: "Tora Treasure" CD-ROM Data
According to reports from Israel filtered through
various sources (e.g. Canadian Jewish News of 9/6/1990),
Bar-Ilan University has brought suit against the
producers (and distributors?) of the "Tora Treasure"
CD-ROM of Rabbinic Jewish materials associated with
the B'nai Brak community in Jerusalem and reviewed in
the latest OFFLINE column (#30). The charge is that
the "Tora Treasure" materials are pirated from the
Bar-Ilan Global Jewish Database project. Apparently
a court has prohibited further sales/distribution of
these CD-ROMs until the matter can be adjudicated.
[Some HUMANIST members will have more accurate and
timely information; I am posting the information
partly as a followup to the OFFLINE column, partly
to encourage discussion of some sticky related issues.]
Meanwhile, various individuals and institutions have
purchased (at considerable expense) in good faith the
CD-ROM (and accompanying software) in question. Many of
these purchasers are outside of Israel. It will be
interesting, and also perhaps somewhat upsetting,
to watch the legal, ethical, economic, etc., issues
unfold in this test case on our own HUMANISTic doorstep.
I hope we can be kept informed of developments.
Bob Kraft, U Penn