This poster deals with the problem of Hasagat Gevul [the prohibition against entrepreneurial enterprises that threaten a preexisting business, i.e. unfair competition], and the ruling that because of that prohibition, the meat from certain slaughterers is not to be used.

This ruling is followed by halakhic statements of of number of Rabbis, including R. Yaakov Shimshon of Shepetivka [a great halakhic authority], R.Avrohom Yehoshua Heshel of Apt and others whose conclusion is that the meat purchased from those who violated the prohibition of Hasagat Gevul is as "treif" as if it had been slaughtered incorrectly.

Hasagat gevul -- unfair competition: Talmudic sources relating to competition are quoted by the halakhic authorities as prooftexts for copyright issues, especially the fear that someone else will copy an author or publisher’s work and start marketing it, depriving the original producer or publisher of the profits. One source (on Bava Batra 21b) forbids other fishermen from trapping a fish that a fisherman has staked out and is trying to attract to his own net: “[Other] fishermen’s nets should be kept away from a fish [that one fisherman is trying to attract to his net]. [They should keep their nets] the distance that a fish swims. How far is that? Rabba son of Rav Huna says: A parsa.” This and similar sources were applied by the Chatam Sofer (Responsa, Choshen Mishpat #79) to publishing. The original publisher is like the first fisherman doing all the tedious work involved in authoring a work and/or taking it to press and expecting thereby to profit from his efforts and heavy financial investment. Another who copies it and sells the product himself is like the other fishermen who are prohibited to take away the results of the first fisherman’s labors