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Intellectual Property And Open Source: A Practical Guide To Protecting Code
"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
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.
Written by an intellectual property attorney who is also a
programmer, Intellectual Property and Open Source 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:
How do open source and intellectual property work together?
What are the most important intellectual property-related
issues when starting a business or open source project?
How should you handle copyright, licensing and other issues
when accepting a patch from another developer?
How can you pursue your own ideas while working for someone
else?
What parts of a patent should be reviewed to see if it
applies to your work?
When is your idea a trade secret?
How can you reverse engineer a product without getting into
trouble?
What should you think about when choosing an open source
license for your project?
Most legal sources are too scattered, too arcane, and too
hard to read. Intellectual Property and Open Source is a
friendly, easy-to-follow overview of the law that
programmers, system administrators, graphic designers, and
many others will find essential.
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