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Is there a US copyright on the Mishnah or the Gemara?

Am I allowed to type out the hebrew part of the Mishnah using another Mishna that I bought from Amazon; and then later print and sell my copy?

I am trying to understand how US copyright laws work when someone is directly using sentences from the Mishna or the Gemara.

Mars Sojourner
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  • Hellos Mars and thanks for your question. Could you clarify what you mean by US copyright? None of the authors of the Mishnah or Gemarra ever lived in the US, nor had they heard of it, nor had the country even been created yet. How could there be US copyright on its text? Are you referring to new editions which are printed in the US, like Oz VeHadar? What do you mean you bought a Mishna on Amazon? – robev Apr 06 '22 at 18:20
  • In every book you buy, whether it is a Gemara from ArtScroll or a Mishnah from Amazon as you tell, at the beginning of the sefer, there should be a copyright notice. On ArtScroll it says that you cannot reproduce the text, insights, commentaries from ArtScroll themselves, without prior written permision. If you are using Sefaria, you can find the Creative Commons for example here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ – Shmuel Apr 06 '22 at 18:23
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    The text of the Mishna or Gemara itself is not under any copyright, but any translations or commentary might be. The fonts/typesetting can be as well. – Esther Apr 06 '22 at 18:30
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    @mvs Can I buy an Artscroll Mishna from Amazon, look at the hebrew text only and type it out in hebrew in microsoft word, print the document and sell it online for money? ( I am asking about copying about the original hebrew text ONLY. Not the commentaries etc ) – Mars Sojourner Apr 06 '22 at 18:47
  • @robev I am referring to the hebrew text only of the Mishnah/ Gemara. Only the pure, no stings attached hebrew text. I am not talking about the commentaries, etc. – Mars Sojourner Apr 06 '22 at 18:49
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    @Esther I guess according to Esther, I can retype the hebrew text of Mishna from an Artscroll onto MS Word, then print it out and see the hard copy. ( I am talking about the hebrew text only and not the commentaries etc ) – Mars Sojourner Apr 06 '22 at 18:51
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    Sometimes there are disputes as to the exact authentic text of certain works, and a lot of research went into examining all the different manuscripts, and a critical edition is produced. For example, the Mossad HaRav Kook Ritvas come to mind. The standard text for the Mishnah/Gemarra has been set for hundreds of years, so no one today can copyright that. By the way I would save yourself the time of typing out everything from an Artscroll into MS Word. I'd just copy and paste from online resources. – robev Apr 06 '22 at 18:52
  • @robev Was there ever a situation where the exact authentic text of Mishnah and Gemara was questioned? I thought they came down from G_d > Moshe Rabbeinu > Artscroll > My book shelf. – Mars Sojourner Apr 06 '22 at 18:58
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    If you look at any contemporary edition of Mishnayos, they often have in the corner שינוי נוסחאות, because there are variant versions of the text. They very often don't make much of a difference. – robev Apr 06 '22 at 19:02
  • @robev. Ty. I guess it seem like there isn't an issue just copying the pure hebrew text and republishing it. – Mars Sojourner Apr 06 '22 at 19:05
  • @MarsSojourner Answer to your question: it depends. If it is from a free source and the copyright allows it, sure. However, if you buy a ArtScroll version, it clearly says what I mentioned in my first comment. Written permission is needed prior. ArtScroll has their own translation, so that's ArtScroll's product so to say. – Shmuel Apr 06 '22 at 19:51
  • Artscroll often doesn't use their own Hebrew folios and reprints them from others. But no one would challenge your right to copy Hebrew text from the Mishna/Gemara and reproduce it. This text is in the public domain, as can be proved from the availability of so many online copies – mbloch Apr 07 '22 at 03:34
  • there could be a copyright on the font used – Dude Apr 07 '22 at 20:35

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