| Intellectual Property and Open Source: A Practical Guide to Protecting Code | 
| Author: Van Lindberg
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $34.99
Buy New: $21.64
You Save: $13.35 (38%)
Buy New/Used from $21.63
Avg. Customer Rating:   (11 reviews)
Sales Rank: 267161
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 390
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7 x 1.1
ISBN: 0596517963
Dewey Decimal Number: 346.73048
EAN: 9780596517960
ASIN: 0596517963
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"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.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 5 Cheers for Intellectual Property ad Open Source December 27, 2008
This is a fantastic book! If you are an open source developer/contributor, this is a must-read. I've just written a full review here:
[...]
Here's an excerpt:
"Intellectual Property and Open Source accomplishes a difficult goal of sharing dense information while making the subject matter engaging. This is done through examples, thought experiments, and well developed analogies. Van does an excellent job of igniting a powerful curiosity on the part of the reader while providing rewards for this in the lucid explanations of related laws and perspectives."
Intellectual Property and Open Source December 8, 2008
This is the most insightful explanation of patents, copyright, trade secrets, contracts and licenses I have come across so far. This book appears to be targeted to software developers (there are frequent programming analogies throughout the book). Don't expect that reading this book alone will make you into an expert on the subject -- but there are plenty of pointers to more detailed sources for those who care. Perhaps the most practical part of this book (for most people) is the explanation of the differences between popular (and less popular) open source licenses. Somehow the author manages to do so without getting tedious. Especially valuable here is that the author is clear about where there are different interpretations, and what has (or more often, has not) been upheld in court. The subject is still evolving (several ongoing court cases are referenced), so the book will probably need a second edition soon.
Both computer and legal libraries strong in technology need this November 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Any outside the field of IT who want to understand how to handle the legal system will find Intellectual Property and Open Source is perfect for understanding how law views intellectual property rights for programmers. The author's an attorney who is also a programmer, so chapters address concerns of all sides, from pursuing ideas while working for another to reverse engineering a project, handling trade secrets, and more. Both computer and legal libraries strong in technology need this.
 An author who knows how to relate to programmer October 1, 2008
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The initial chapters were a bit dry due to their subject matter: patents, copyright, trade secrets, etc. The author did a great job of keeping your interest by using concepts familiar to programmers to explain these subjects. For example using the constructs of regular expressions and try/catch blocks to explain the reasoning behind patent language.
I was convinced the author was someone I could relate to when in the chapter on trade secrets, he used the 'Flaming Moe' as one of his examples of trade secret calamities.
Once you are through the initial chapters, you are on a good footing for understanding the Open Source licenses presented in the later chapters from a legal perspective. In these chapters, Van is able to dispel myths and misconceptions since the reader has done their 'legal homework' in the beginning of the book.
A must for anyone in the business of techology September 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is an excellent resource for anyone involved in technology products. It is a first class primer on intellectual property and uses examples familiar to technical people. There is unavoidable legal discussions but they are presented in a manner that makes it easy to understand.
Anyone in a technology oriented field, especially the computer industry, should read this book.
|
|
|
