Product Description
This first-time-ever compilation on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights reveals that the Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa meet international standards in the legal protection of copyrights, patents, trademarks, and integrated circuit design. For each of seventeen Arab countries (plus Palestine and the Gulf Cooperation Council), Intellectual Property Laws of the Arab Countries gives transnational businesses and their counsel complete details in such areas of practice as the following: eligibility for protection; registration and renewal procedures; dispute resolution; succession of rights; enforcement of penalties for infringement; and administrative and judicial remedies. ... Read more

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“I have studied Rosen’s book in detail and am impressed with its scope and content. I strongly recommend it to anybody interested in the current controversies surrounding open source licensing.”
—John Terpstra, Samba.org; cofounder, Samba-Team

“Linux and open source software have forever altered the computing landscape. The important conversations no longer revolve around the technology but rather the business and legal issues. Rosen’s book is must reading for anyone using or providing open source solutions.”
—Stuart Open Source Development Labs

A Complete Guide to the Law of Open Source for Developers, Managers, and Lawyers

Customer Reviews (8)

Before you start a software initiative, read this book.
The Open Source/Free Software movement can be very confusing because it is a mixture of ideology, politics and business. To choose the proper license for your purposes you first have to understand the purpose of the various licenses. Some, specially GNU/GPL, are mostly political and ideological in nature in that they try to create a 'right to software.' Others are designed to further either academic or business interests through free software.

Except for Chapter 10, I found the book to be eminently readable. Unfortunately, Chapter 10: Choosing an Open Source License, which can be considered the core of the book, turned my brain to mush and was no help at all choosing a license. The author states:

"If you expect a checklist method to select a license, don't bother reading this chapter; it cannot be so easy."

While from an attorney's point of view this might be correct, from a developer's point of view you don't really have an alternative to creating your own checklist to pick a license. An attorney will give you the attorney's standard solution: "consult your attorney." When you do, your attorney will not pick a license for you, he'll rehash everything in the book and you still have the burden to pick a license. So why not nip in the bud this Catch-22 situation?

My own checklist, created mostly from what I learned from this book, is as follows:

1.- Ideological intent? What is your prime intent, to make a political statement or is it something else like promoting academe or running a business?

2.- Reciprocal licensing? What is more beneficial for your project, reciprocal licensing which limits contributor's choices or non-reciprocal which allows alternative licensing modes for derivative works?

3.- Can you afford an attorney? If not, pick a license template used by a very popular and successful open source project that meets your first two requirements.

Remember that you can always relicense and if your initial choice is not perfect, it can be perfected in time provided you don't chain yourself to some irreversible license.

This is the "go-to" reference for OpenSource licensing
I purchased this book 18 months ago, along with two other references. Since that time, I have learned that when I have a question, this is the book to turn to first. In fact, I haven't read the others since first buying them.

This week we had a request to license some code under the CPL. Not only does this book cover that license, but it has a chapter interpreting each of the clever sections, and its repercussions.

As both a licensee and licensor, I have yet to come across an issue which this book did not address. It is the single volume you need.

Must-read for licensors
I have studied and compared Open Source licenses for a number of years.I came to the conclusion that the licenses created by Mr. Rosen were the best and I adopted one of them for my own Open Source projects.I have also read his book on the subject and I have concluded that it is also the best in its field.I recommend his book as a must-read for licensors of Open Source content.

Great for reference
When I recieved this book I was excited, finally I could read a book which would help my brain really understand all the licenses! I sat down to read it, and was impressed with how the author took the popular licenses and broke them down into more easily understandable. I mean, they *are* fairly straight forward, but the author gets into what they actually mean in legal terms, and that's interesting.

Unfortunately it turns out that reading about specifics of Open Source law is not terribly interesting to me (I guess I'll never be a lawer) After the few introduction chapters I had to stop reading straight through it and skip around and skim the parts that interested me.

In my case this is not such a good book for snuggling up with in front of the fire (some computer books are), but it is a fabulous reference book, written for us mere mortals.

Readable and by a Lawyer.
Open source software is growing explosively around the world. The SourceForge web site now lists 87,006 projects being done by 912,545 people. That's almost a million people writing code, probably more than all of the programmers employed by Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, etc. etc.

The code being produced is distributed free of charge. Free of Charge, but not without restrictions. This book, written by the general counsel of the Open Source Initiative is intended to explain the various licenses that are in common use in the Open Source Community. It is written in English, not lawyer-speak, and intended for developers, managers, users and of course lawyers. If this is what you need to know, you'll not find a better source. ... Read more

Product Description
The GDP of the United Arab Emirate's (UAE) economy is reported to have grown 35% in 2006, making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. This has attracted unprecedented levels of foreign investment, which has resulted in efforts to bring its intellectual property laws into line with international standards. However, reliable copies of the IP laws and regulations of the UAE (which are written in Arabic) can be difficult to obtain, much less understand, for most Western attorneys. Quality English translations, interpretations of the law, and commentaries on practice are almost non-existent. Intellectual Property Law and Practice of the United Arab Emirates is the first book to address these problems by providing reliable copies of the Arabic laws and regulations, intelligent translations of them, and a discussion of issues arising in the application and practice of the law. This book will give practitioners the ability to better assess the IP problems they face and to devise the best possible strategic solutions. ... Read more

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This completely revised and up to date Second Edition of this well received work offers in one volume a comprehensive review of United States copyright, patent, and trademark laws.It provides thorough and sophisticated treatment of this complex material in a form both less cumbersome than a treatise and considerably deeper and more sophisticated than a study outline or "nutshell."

With its detailed citations, and readily accessible and complete subject coverage, this book will be a useful quick reference or deskbook for intellectual property practitioners, students, law professors, and librarians, as well as for anyone interested in understanding American intellectual property law. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Study Aide and/or Quick Reference
While modeslty priced this book provides a good review of US intellectual property laws, including copyright, patent, and trademark law. While comprehensive treatment of even a single subject would require manyvolumes, this book does provide excellent coverage of US intellectualproperty laws.

I highly recommended this book for law students searchingfor a study aide (I have done just that for my Intro to IP class).I alsohighly recommend this book for attorneys not well versed in intellectualproperty who are looking for a comprehensive primer.

Becaues this bookcontains numerous citations it could also be very useful as a quickreference or deskbook for intellectual property practitioners and lawprofessors. ... Read more

Product Description
This casebook organizes contemporary foreign, as well as U.S., case law and literature to equip law students with the knowledge they need to engage in international intellectual property practice, in both transactional and litigation settings. Carefully selected materials also expose students to the social, economic, and cultural considerations that underpin intellectual property law around the world. Each field of law - copyright, patent, trademark, unfair competition, trade secrets, industrial design - is introduced by a comprehensive author's note placing the field in its international and comparative law context, and extensive notes on the cases and materials fill in relevant details, including currently and historically important topics. ... Read more

Product Description
This book, arising from the collaboration between the IEEM in Macao and the Max Planck Institute in Munich, provides up-to-date information on developments in global intellectual property law and policy and their impact on regional economic and cultural development. The first two parts of the book give broad coverage to the protection of relative newcomers to the field of international intellectual property: cultural heritage and geographical indications. The third part deals with issues of enforcement which have become a major point of interest since the substantive intellectual property rules were put in place. Particular emphasis is given to enforcement systems in Asia, and to the subject matter of criminal enforcement that in many parts of the world is considered an important tool of effective protection. The final part of the book deals with the issue of multiple protection and overprotection, now a growing issue in IP law. ... Read more

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Substantial similarity is one of the most important and elusive concepts in copyright law. It is the key element that determines a central question in the field: What constitutes the wrongful copying of subject matter such as fiction, nonfiction, music, visual art, audiovisual works, and computer programs? The first reference to fully discuss this pivotal subject, PLI s Substantial Similarity in Copyright Law remains the clearest and most comprehensive reference to address it. Covering the Copyright Act and key court decisions, Substantial Similarity in Copyright Law lucidly examines the principal substantial similarity tests used by the various circuit courts to assess whether the copying of specific subject matter is sufficient to support a conclusion of copyright infringement. Packed with illustrations from actual infringement cases, this wide-ranging reference enables you to see how this vital concept is practically applied in the particular jurisdiction in which you re practicing, enhancing your ability to readily serve clients in copyright disputes. Updated at least once a year, Substantial Similarity in Copyright Law is a practical, hard-working tool for copyright specialists and other intellectual property attorneys, an important guide for generalists who handle copyright cases, and useful reading for plaintiffs and defendants in copyright litigation. ... Read more

Product Description
Acting both as an introduction to the field and as a usefulday-to-day companion, this book provides an easily comprehensible and practitioner-oriented overview of key areas of intellectual property law.The work is divided into four main parts: * Trade secrets - coverage includes actions for breach of confidence; employment and consultancy agreements and cases where there is a public interest in disclosure * Patents - an examination of what is patentable; the protection of industrial inventions (with special consideration of employee inventions) and the procedure for applying for patent protection * Copyright and designs - consideration of copyright law including guidance on the protection afforded by the Copyright Act * Trade marks - practical guidance on trade mark law following the Trade Marks Act 1994 and coverage of issues such as: what is a registered trade mark; how to register a trade mark; infringement of a registered trade mark and passing off Practical, day-to-day examples and illustrations make the diverse often complex issues involved readily understandable, whilst full coverage of all relevant legislation ensures that practitioners have a complete picture of the lawand practice concerning this area.* Provides practical illustrations throughout the text * Both a useful introductionand a desktop guide to the core areas of intellectual property law * Fully covers all relevant UK and EC legislation toensure that practitioners get a complete picture of the lawas it currently stand ... Read more

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This volume surveys recent international developments in intellectual property law, including forum shopping, unfair competition, Hag II, Mercosur and the development of trademark and patent law in different sectors of industry. ... Read more

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As part of the Core Text Series, Intellectual Property Law provides students with an overview and basic understanding of this area of the law. It covers the six key areas of intellectual property law; patents, copyright, industrial designs, confidential information, and unregistered and registered trademarks while also placing IP in its wider context, recognizing the economic and social influences on its development and examining associated ethical issues.

Close attention is paid to changes in technology and in the global economy which have affected the law's development, and this third edition offers expanded coverage of copyright and information technology, as well as database rights and internet issues. It also provides further information on confidence and the law in relation to privacy, and TRIPs.

In this book, Jennifer Davis conveys the excitement being generated as this area of the law advances into uncharted territories, whether in human creative enterprise or international commerce. She also casts a critical eye over the constant expansion of legal protection afforded to intellectual property law. ... Read more