<DIV><p>"Clear, correct, and deep, this is a welcome addition to discussions of law and computing for anyone -- even lawyers!" -- Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society</p><p> If you work in information technology, intellectual property is central to your job -- but dealing with the complexities of the legal system can be mind-boggling. This book is for anyone who wants to understand how the legal system deals with intellectual property rights for code and other content. You'll get a clear look at intellectual property issues from a developer's point of view, including practical advice about situations you're likely to encounter.</p><p> Written by an intellectual property attorney who is also a programmer, <I>Intellectual Property and Open Source</I> helps you understand patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and licenses, with special focus on the issues surrounding open source development and the GPL. This book answers questions such as:</p><p></p><ul><li>How do open source and intellectual property work together?</li> <li>What are the most important intellectual property-related issues when starting a business or open source project?</li> <li>How should you handle copyright, licensing and other issues when accepting a patch from another developer?</li> <li>How can you pursue your own ideas while working for someone else?</li> <li>What parts of a patent should be reviewed to see if it applies to your work?</li> <li>When is your idea a trade secret?</li> <li>How can you reverse engineer a product without getting into trouble?</li> <li>What should you think about when choosing an open source license for your project?</li> </ul><p> Most legal sources are too scattered, too arcane, and too hard to read. <I>Intellectual Property and Open Source</I> is a friendly, easy-to-follow overview of the law that programmers, system administrators, graphic designers, and many others will find essential.</p></div>