Marcus Jastrow Dictionary Copyright

Question

Is the dictionary that he wrote still in copyright, or has it entered the public domain? If not, who owns the rights to it?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's not a Torah question but a legal one. — ertert3terte, Commented Jun 9, 2015 at 6:08
@ShmuelBrin, this is a close one, but given sufficient motivation, it could be on topic. I'm going with leaving open because the most obvious motivation for the question is the desire to publish a new version (electronic or in print), which in the case of this dictionary is Judaism motivated. — Yishai, Commented Jun 9, 2015 at 18:29
@Yishai The Halachic question is a dup. The legal question is off topic. — ertert3terte, Commented Jun 9, 2015 at 20:02
@ShmuelBrin, this is not a legal question, best addressed to a lawyer; it's a Jastrow Dictionary question, best addressed to someone who knows about the Jastrow Dictionary. Given that this is a volume used pretty much exclusively in the study of Judaism, it's fair to expect that experts on Judaism would know something about it. — Isaac Moses, Commented Jun 9, 2015 at 20:27

Menachem · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-04 04:01:26Z

14

I believe it's been out of copyright for a while. You can access the whole book online here: http://www.tyndalearchive.com/TABS/Jastrow/

It's also available on Google Books, though I only found Vol. 2 there.

Vol 1 and Vol 2 are available on Hebrewbooks.org.

Menachem

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answered Sep 6, 2010 at 1:51

Dave

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1

I'm not so sure about that. The edition I have (Judaica Press, 1989) carries a copyright of theirs from 1971 (even though the original was published in 1903 and should surely have expired by then).
– Alex
Commented Sep 6, 2010 at 2:08
It should be that that contents are out of copyright, but the layout(the way the specific pages look) is still under copyright, but the most recent publishers.
– Rabbi Michael Tzadok
Commented Sep 6, 2010 at 12:41
3

The 1989 (and 1971, I guess) editions are facsimiles of the 1903 one. So there's no new layout to be copyrighted.
– Alex
Commented Sep 6, 2010 at 17:26
2

@Alex, Sometimes booksellers/publishers will try to assert copyright when they have none.
– Seth J
Commented Feb 27, 2012 at 19:46

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