For several decades now David Nimmer has maintained a steady flow of insightful, witty, and deeply-informed commentary on copyright in the law journals. His well-earned reputation as a major authority and theorist on copyright law is unassailable.

In this new volumeand#8212;a companion to his very well received Copyright: Sacred Text, Technology, and the DMCA, published by Kluwer in 2003and#8212;Nimmer once again tackles some of the thorniest issues that arise in the practice of copyright law, including the following and much more:

and#8226; the work for hire...

Jewish copyright law is a rich body of jurisprudence that developed in parallel with modern copyright laws and the book privileges that preceded them. Jewish copyright law owes its origins to a reprinting ban that the Rome rabbinic court issued for three books of Hebrew grammar in 1518. It continues to be applied today, notably in a rabbinic ruling outlawing pirated software, issued at Microsoft's request.

In From Maimonides to Microsoft, Professor Netanel traces the historical development of Jewish copyright law by comparing rabbinic reprinting bans with secular and papal book...