Intellectual Property Books

As an IT professional, I have depended solely on Essentials of Patents to quickly become a valued member of my company's Patent Strategy team. Andy Gibb provides all of the angles and influencing factors for newcomers to this field. A must read for those traditionally considered outside of the circle of patent management - IT, HR, Manufacturing, etc.

DeMatteis and Gibbs have so greatly contributed to the world of Invention and Patenting in such a multitude of ways and continue to do so by sharing their research,experience,knowledge and expertise with their readers in the brilliantly written and much needed "Essentials". This book is worth its weight in gold to say the very least. "Essentials" is virtually bursting with valuable money saving tips. I believe DeMatteis and Gibbs deserve more than a pat on the back for all of the knowledge they have spent years gathering through their own research, hard work and personal expericences and laying all of it right out on the table for the benefit of their readers.I have the highest respect for DeMatteis and Gibbs for yet another contribution to all of us .....for our benefit...this book is very precise and clearly written and is full of information involving the future, and the future is now!!! I am sure that many will join me in saying Thank you Gentleman, for yet another contribution and for making our lives easier.....I am already looking forward to your next book as are many others here in Northern California...

Essentials of Patents is an insightful guide for business professionals who seek to have a better understanding of patents for strategic intelligence purposes. The book provides readers with the basics behind the nature of patents, the importance of patents when it comes to measuring corporate wealth, and a straightforward approach to establishing a Patent Quality Management (PQM) system.

The authors have broken down the content of the book into two distinct sections.

The first four chapters of the book are dedicated to the fundamentals of patents in the corporate world. Gibbs and DeMatteis discuss in detail the key aspects behind patent licensing, strategy, and tactics to make better business decisions.

The next six chapters focus on the management of patents within various departments in large companies. Readers are given examples of how patents can influence the way managers adjust their plans in marketing, engineering, manufacturing and operations. In addition, the authors share their views on how patents should be managed by finance, human resources and information technology departments.

The final two chapters discuss the role legal counsel and the CEO take on in a company that has a Patent Quality Management (PQM) system. After reading these chapters, readers will have a better idea of how critical the legal department and CEO are to managing existing and future patents.

Competitive intelligence practitioners who are not experts in the domain of patents, must read Essentials of Patents. When they are collecting information on patents, whether it is to track their competitors' new products or analyze the competitions' R&D abilities, they should keep book nearby.

The ESSENTIALS of PATENTS is the best book I have read on the subject. Andy and Bob have put together a book that really hits the right topics and in the right order to answer the many questions I had regarding writing patents and patent protection.

Essentials of Patents is destine to become the defacto handbook on the critical importance of understanding patents from a management side. I have over 15 years experience consulting and working with technology driven companies, everything from Fortune 500 companies down to secret two person labs, where I could have handed this book out and become an instant hero. Needless to say, I'm ordering a ton of copies as free reads for my valued and important customers.

This book is not just a book for inventors, attorneys, researchers or managers, but everyone and everybody within corporations where innovation is essential to their core competencies - in other words, any company that plans to be around tomorrow. This book should be required reading for any MBA curriculum, let alone engineering, marketing or human resource manager.

I have witnessed an amazing change the area of patents over the years. I started as an inventor in college at Tulane Engineering, licensed patents to large home health care companies, and created a company to help recognize inventors from a human resource side. What I see Gibbs and DeMatteis are doing here with "Essentials . . ." is dispelling the mystery and complete misunderstanding of this area with an easy to understand and very articulated, astoundingly insight. These guys anchor the essoterica of patents in real world solutions. They answer all the questions that I have been peppered with over the years. But they have gone beyond even those areas that should be familar with patents, and provide insight for all departments, in what my experience dictates as completely accurate. By having read this book, I learned as much about my own area of experience as I thought I had gained over the years. The introduction alone is as educational and significant to patents as differential equations are to linear systems.

This book is long over due, especially in light of the explosive significance of patents in being competitive in the global economy. As companies are striving to innovate, being the only sustainable source of above average returns in the new economy, this book should instill the knowledge to handle this critical area.

This will book will be a free gift to all my clients in the future.

It's an eye-opener in terms of showing extent and seriousness of counterfeiting problem. Also a fun read.

People may think it is cute and trendy to have a counterfeit handbag and may believe they are getting back at big pharmacy by buying their meds on-line. Sadly the damage done by counterfeit product traffic only hurts the consumer. Product counterfeiting is not just for luxury items anymore but can be found in just about every type and grade of consumer good from razor blades to shampoo to peanut butter to mayonnaise. This traffic is just about as far as we can get from "fair trade." Often made by slave labor in developing countries, the knockoff business blocks economic development and only benefits criminals. Phillips has done some great work by investigating "markets" where pirated software sits next to Soviet rocket launchers. This book covers so many topics and products, it is a must read for anyone interested in crime, globalization, international affairs, business, manufacturing, politics, health, safety, economics and poverty.

Counterfeiting is one of the fastest growing - and most profitable - industries in the world, and hold a market worth over, $500 billion dollars. KNOCKOFF exposes the truth behind the fakes and charts the ramifications of counterfeit manufacture and trafficking, probing an illegal global industry that is slowly undermining world economics. Interviews with victims, investigators and people who sell counterfeits counter the common notion that fakes are acceptable, reveals the organized crime behind many fakes, and makes for a recommended pick for any serious business library.

For anyone interested in unerstanding the underworld trade in counterfeit goods that plague society today this is a must read.

I bought this book as background reading for a client assignment, and was impressed with the author's balanced perspective about a subject that - as the recent debate over digital rights management illustrates - tends to create strong opinions.

For example, Phillips makes no bones about the fact that counterfeiting is theft and that it is anything but a victimless crime. At the same time, he notes that companies need to convince customers that their products (particularly music and films) have the value that the companies assign to them. He also observes that where there is a huge price difference between legitimate and bootleg product and little in the way of local support, convincing people to buy a genuine product will be tough.

Phillips also makes some interesting points about the links between counterfeiting and organized crime and terrorism, and the prevalence of fake pharmaceuticals and aircraft parts. He does this without being sensational, which is no small accomplishment when you consider that counterfeit parts have been found on Air Force One, and that in some African countries, 80 percent of the medicine is fake.

Readable, informative and highly recommended.

This little booklet provides the most basic information about patents. I bought it thinking that it would be a good thing to supply new employees at my company. Although I think it is OK in terms of content (nothing particularly bad), I am not sure that there is anything interesting enough here to get anyone to really read through it.
Most of this information can be found on-line and up to date from government websites. Although I have not checked, it would not surprise me to find this very information as it was created by the USPTO. Unless you are keen to have things in bound form, there really is no need to own this book.

This is quick 85-page overview of the patent process. It provides the key steps, requirements, and definitions in very plain terms (almost in the same style of language as the IRS's 1040EZ instructions). However, it steers clear from giving ADVICE. If you need advice, try Patent It Yourself, from Nolo Press.
Some of the information in this slim volume can be found at http://www.uspto.gov/. But this book brings it together in a very convenient and affordable package. It is worth the modest price!

This book offers a simple, straightforward interoduction to patent law. If you are starting from scratch, this is a good place to start. There isn't much "how to" in this book, so it's probably best for someone who plans to work with a patent lawyer or service.

An easy read.... this book gives a quick introduction to intellectual property rights and application procedures. Not nearly as helpful as some other, thicker, "How to" books.

This book gives a decent description of patents, but it's out of date. For example, it says the head of the patent office is called "Commissioner" when that was changed and the head is called "Director" and the "Commissioner" is actually the third in rank (second is "Deputy Director"). The book says the USPatent Office handles 200,000 patent applications, but the number is actually closer to 300,000. There have been significant changes in the patent laws such as publication of applications, 20 year terms, WTO related provisions, NAFTA related provisions, WIPO and PCT related provisions, etc. that do not appear. So, take this book as background information only and know that in many instances it is obsolete. Recognize that patents are not a "do-it-yourself" activity if you want decent protection. See a patent attorney if you want accurate, up to date advice and worthwhile coverage. Stay away from the invention submission/promotion companies.

Bruce Burdick, Registered Patent Attorney No. 27,422

Descriptions of what can be protected and the mechanisms for filing the proper documents is a great help. The book gives lots of examples and is clearly written for anyone wishing to protect their ideas.

One of the most complete and up-to-date books for inventors is _Protecting_ by Mrs Bryant, who is a patent agent. After distinguishing patents from copyrights and trade secrets, she outlines a roadmap for inventors and identifies many of the pitfalls likely to be encountered. As a collateral benefit, she also summarizes the process for initiating foreign applications through the Patent Cooperation Treaty. The intended audience is predominantly engineers (both regarding personal inventions and those assigned to their employers) with suggestions on documentation and diligence along with expected costs, but patent agents and attorneys can also benefit from the overview on statutory intent and court interpretation. The figures showing the relevant forms are an added benefit. One unintentionally amusing comment was her observation that "many lawyers" do not satisfy the requirements to register before the US Patent & Trademark Office. Actually, only a tiny handful of attorneys qualify to formally prosecute patent applications (although registration is not needed for litigation or licensing, and in fairness the author probably means "intellectual property" lawyers of whom patent attorneys are a subset). Hopefully a revised edition will address publication of patent applications from the American Inventors Protection Act and the impact of _Festo_v._Shoketsu_ on the Doctrine of Equivalents - both developing after the book's publication - as well as correct the assertion that PTO registration is available only from passing the (rather difficult) patent exam - the alternative method is to work as a patent examiner. Otherwise, _Protecting_ presents a valuable and recommended resource to engineers and scientists.

Too many lay people and even legal professionals have no idea about the differences between patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Joy Bryant's work, in addition to outlining the patent process, provides a clear explanation of the various kinds of intellectual property law in general. This book is a "must" read for general practice attorneys who want to point their clients in the right direction for answers to IP questions. It is also a great tool for patent attorneys to use to educate their clients on the process of obtaining a patent.

Tremendous resource for scientists and other geeks. Succinct read. Answers the FAQs: 'What is a patent?', , 'Who can I turn to for help?', 'Are there special patent libraries for researching my ideas?', 'How do I search the technical/patent literature?', 'What are claims?', 'I can't afford to patent, how can I still protect my idea?'

Like the numerous tips & checklists -- very helpful!

This book has been extremely helpful to me in learning about the patent process. Each step in obtaining a patent is clearly described and common pitfalls are pointed out so they can be avoided. Each chapter provides concrete examples that summarize the material just covered and presents the information in a way that is easy to understand. As an engineer concerned with protecting IP, I have found this book invaluable.

If all you know about Proudhon is that he said "property is theft," then this is the place to start learning the rest. If that is all you want to know, then skip it; you will be frustrated and disappointed. Proudhon makes a series of analyses of property theories as they existed in his era. He finds them wanting in consistency, so that they turn on themselves (basing "property," paradoxically, in what any consistent application of that very theory would consider "theft") or simply fail to deal with the complexities of even 19th century production (leading to the conclusion that property, using other standards, is "impossible.") The First Memoir ends with an early attempt by Proudhon to establish a dialectical balance between the aims of the early capitalists and early socialists, positing a form of liberty in the counterbalance of "communism and property." Proudhon's thought developed considerably after this early work, but he never abandoned the basic terms of the analysis, even when he came, towards the end of his life, that some form of property was necessary to preserve freedom.

proudhon didn't mean all property is theft. he didn't advocate no owner ship. He is indicating that the labourer-boss relationship is bad. that the laborourer deserves the fruits of his work and that they should not be taken away for the sake of making money to the boss and the people on the top of the hiearchy, one of the concepts that anarchism opposes.

Note: The previous reviewer is a known troll on various political discussion boards; he has developed a rabid hatred towards Anarchist ideology, so, if I were a customer considering this book, I would take his review with a grain of salt - it's full of very personal venom. For instance, to put Proudhon and Marx in the same category is blatant proof of the reviewer's prejudices; clearly, he has either not read the text or he is purposefully misrepresenting it. Proudhon would never have supported the authoritarianism espoused by Marx or any of his contemporaries and successors.

Proudhon's discourse on property is a great thing to pit against the theories of Hobbes, Locke, and others. He examines property both as a natural right and as one derived from labor, attempting to prove both as false. Whether or not he successfully does so is up to the reader. This is a great book for people interested in political thought and social theory; regardless of whether or not you are a staunch capitalist or socialist, this book will either give you something to think about. For strong supporters of property, it may help solidify your beliefs while you read it with critical analysis. For opponents of property, it may give you support in your beliefs, or re-affirm that which you already feel.

This book is recommended to any and all interested in the history of modern political thought; you just can't review literature as an ideologue, as the previous reviewer has shamefully done.

The title is perhaps one of the most famous rhetorical questions ever, and should be placed historically in the same range as "Quo usque tandem, Catilina" etc. Proudhon sets himself the task of analyzing the foundations of modern society, and inevitably is drawn towards a critique of the modern political economy, as was popular in the 19th century.
Just like Locke, he then "reverse engineers" the economic relations to find their basis in private property, but quite unlike Locke he brilliantly argues why this is in fact an evil thing and not a force for good, as Locke thought. Working from the hypothetical "state of nature", he shows how possession during use is a natural phenomenon, but a permanent property claim over something that was once part of nature is a later invention, and has since caused all strife and misery that competition over scarce goods is wont to do.

As a critique of modern society, this work deserves reading by everyone, regardless of whether you approve of current economic structures or not. The only downside to the book is Proudhon's rather messy attempt to offer an additional immanent critique of capitalism, which only leads the reader to conclude economic ignorance. That is a pity, for the question itself is not only worth asking, but of the various historical answers given this is one of the best argued and most radical.

Notable is Proudhon's influence on Marx and their subsequent falling out over Proudhon's idealism, as seen in his later work "The Philosophy of Poverty" and Marx's reply "The Poverty of Philosophy".

One of the basic concepts of Anarchism can be found within this tome, and that is the idea that "property is theft." In other words, the very act of ownership over a resource is a criminal action against the public.

I would venture to say that this book alone has killed more people than the Malleus Maleficarum. Proudhon's basic reasoning is that property depends upon the State, and the State is inherently coercive and tyrannical, therefore property must be abolished along with the State. Marx was influenced by Proudhon, and some of the ideas expressed in the Communist Manifesto are similar to what we see here.

Of course it does not logically follow that the act of ownership over an object is to deprive someone else of their ability to enjoy that object as well. That would mean that everyone is entitled to all the goods and resources the world has to offer. One could easily say "I am entitled to use your house tonight", break in and crawl into your bed. By stopping him, you would be exercising coercion and authority, which under Anarchist precepts, is forbidden.

The movement to abolish private property led to Lenin/Stalin's nationalization efforts. The confiscation of farms and property. Starvation, and even mass murder.

Read it is a curiosity peice, nothing more. It is disturbing that some young people still find Proudhon's theories desirable.

This book is dry, slow, and dull. It has some (possibly) useful information here and there, but you'll never get to it without falling asleep first or possibly skipping over it in your haste get to the next chapter. Most of the first few chapters talk about people who are cooler than you. Gee don't you wish you were cool? You can be, too! The rest of the book goes on to list things that you either:

a) already know
b) could have found on Google

If you don't know how to make toys and games this book will not tell you how. If you are making games and/or already know how, then this book will bore you to tears.

If you can get a used copy for cheap, I'd say go for it. Otherwise it's two thumbs down.

I was very dissappointed in this book. It seemed the author's intent was to discourage any competition in his market. Other books like The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cashing in On Your Inventions and The Inventor's Bible: How to Market and License Your Brilliant Ideas were much much better.

Being a game inventor for over 25 years, I felt like I was reading my biography as I read this book. It is totally honest about the chances of selling a game to a game company (I don't do toys). However, it is also valid as it relates the stories of inventors regarding the satisfaction and passion the we derive from the creative process. It is well written and enjoyable to read.

The authors take you into the innermost sanctum of the toy industry through colorful, informative interviews that span dozens of subject areas. The toy industry at its rip-roaring, zany, zappy best. All other books I have read about licensing concepts to toy companies pale when compared to this work. This is the book of record.

Joel, Danbury, CT

The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook gave me instant erudition about the arcane world of marketing and licensing inventions. Thanks to this book I have more poise, confidence and a sense of security when I approach potential licensees.

Before you buy this book, get a few highlighters because you will want to mark all the gems of knowledge the authors unselfishly share with readers.

Roz
Harrisburg, PA

Mr. Glazier has the makings of a blockbuster PowerPoint presentation here; unfortunately, he stretched it into a book. Of nearly 200 pages, fully half is devoted to reprinting information (court cases, patent applications) which is available online for free. While convenient access to such detail might appeal to some, it is in sharp contrast to the broad-brush approach Mr. Glazier takes in his original text.

Chapters are interrupted continually by cross-references to the "companion volume" (Patent Strategies for Business, third edition), and one notably unhelpful section effectively says: "You know that chapter from the other book? Well, add this, subtract that, and change the other, and then you'll know what I think about the subject at hand." With so much effort given to padding for length, you'd think he'd just reprint the whole chapter in modified form. It would have been more useful.

Finally, more than 20 pages are devoted to "Tech Trends" -- or, a patent attorney's prognostications about technology's future. As the book was copyrighted in 2000, the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the opinions is now mostly a matter of historical record, and this 10% of the book is now not particularly useful to anyone.

In summary: if you appreciate sweeping overviews that require very little time to read, this may be for you. If you want detail, depth of analysis, or an up-to-date review, look elsewhere.

The new practical ideas in this book are very valuable. The case studies of how real businesses have used patent strategies in software and business methods bring to life how this can affect my business today to help the bottom line. The latest legal developments and cases are analyzed, but there is no useless lawyer-speak, instead the author brings out the rules for running a business profitably that are buried between the lines of the cases. Obviously, this author is on the front lines of the patent wars, and brings back here what he has learned that we can all use. Good for the CEO, Chairman, or General Counsel of any business that uses software or the internet, about how to use all that new patent mumbo-jumbo for revenue, profit and shareholder value. A great e-companion and update to the classic "Patent Strategies for Business" by the same author.

I particularly liked the chapters on 'Patent Denial' [a laugh-riot, and it's not easy to be funny about patents], and the updated rules on 'Virtual Genius and How to Invent on Demand' [the author makes it sound easy, but he as invented several patents himself, and he is a patent lawyer, so he must know-- I am glad he decided to tell the rest of us]. It will be interesting to see how the 'Tech Trends' and forecasts play out. The survey of the new patent practices in banking [yes, that's banking patents] was surprising and enlightening -- and I look forward to a more in depth survey by the same author. The 'Patent Audit' chapters are also useful.

I expect an ROI on my investment in this book of about a zillion percent.

This is a terrible book, a scam if you will. In the first place, charging [$$$]for a under 200 pages, and with very small demensions, is outright theft. Secondly, the book is merly a summary of court cases, which can be obtained freely on the internet or from the US patent office web site, in greater detail. Thirdly, the author repeats himself many, usually entire paragraphs worded in slightly different ways. I can only think is is an attempt to "pat" the book and add more pages.

When considering this book be aware that it is a supplement to the author's book titled "Patent Strategies for Business" to which frequent references are made.

That said, this book is still a valuable resource without "Patent Strategies for Business", which I have not read. What I like about this book is the number of real and hypothetical case studies, with well written legal analysis interwoven into the narrative. Much of the book is written in the ponderous legalese you'd expect from such a book, and this is necessary to ensure that there is no ambiguity communicated when legal points are made. However, there is also a lot of plain talk and common sense imparted, which makes this book readable by lay persons.

I personally gained a lot of excellent information from the book, including the fact that patents can be driven by legal as well as technology and marketing strategies. What this means is existing products can be modified with the advice of patent attorneys to be patentable and a part of a company's patent portfolio. This is an interesting and unique approach, and can (and should) be the basis for increasing a company's value.

Also excellent are the chapters that address updating existing products and services for the Internet, making them possibly patentable, and chapter 8's excellent set of steps for intellectual property audits.

Overall, with or without the primary book ("Patent Strategies for Business"), this is must reading for any business, small or large, that wants to capitalize on potential intellectual property assets to increase their net worth and value. It is also an excellent and thought-provoking read for strategic planners. I rate it at five solid stars for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the plethora of ideas the book generated and the clarification of some issues and factors related to services patents that I was researching.

This book provides a little over 80 pages of easily read advice on patent strategies involving software/internet-based business methods. It provides a quick overview of two landmark cases. More importantly, it suggests areas for patenting and checklists for IP strategy. The book was helpful as a broad overview. However, I thought that more detail should have been included. The last 100 pages were filled with "Tech Trends" and reprinted case data. The "Tech Trends" chapters were the author's predictions on the future of tech, and while interesting (and occasionally incorrect), don't include any patent-related analysis. Also, the book dates from late 1999 and an included survey chapter analyzed patents up to Jan 1999. Given that the State Street Bank case wrapped in 1998, it's a shame that more recent analyses weren't provided either in the book or on an associated web page, especially since many patents had just been filed before the survey.

The bottom line: useful, informative book but could have used more detail, newer data, and incorporated information from the companion volume. The author refers to strategies such as "submarining", "picket fence", and "leap frog" without giving a single line of explanation, instead plugging the companion volume. I have encountered those strategies in other legal readings/coursework, and I believe a few pages for each concept (in replacement of the chapters on Tech Trends) would have greatly enhanced the value of this book.

The problem with the several texts available on digital copyright or Digital Rights Management is that the topic demands a treatment from at least three different perspectives: namely legal, technical and business. There are several books that try to tackle the topic of digital copyright from a legal viewpoint, and this one is clearly coming from a technical perspective. Legal issues are covered, but rather superficially. More surprisingly the crucial business issues and models that are driving interest in DRM are barely mentioned and there is no dicussion of the business models that are working and those that are not. Disappointingly many of the technical issues are also fudged in a way that will leave non-technical audiences confused, and those who are following technical developments frustrated. The fact is that, technically at least, DRM is an area where approaches, technologies and standards are all in rapid development and the industry has failed to converge on any single direction. This book's effort to offer a comprehensive review of available products means that it risked redundancy before it was published, as many of the companies and technologies have ceased to be relevant. What the world still needs is a book on DRM that reviews the law, discusses the business models (and consumer needs) that are driving developments, and describes fundamental approaches in a way that will remain relevant whatever product Microsoft may impose on us all next year. Unfortunately this book intrigues enough to encourage one to want to know more about DRM, but never really provides the answers.

DRM is a confusing topic, and this one of the clearest expositions of DRM (or most any other technical topic!) that I've ever run across. It demystifies a complex subject with simple straightforward language, describes key vendors and organizes them accurately into categories, and even contains a wealth of useful materials such as checklists to help the customer determine business/technical requirements, evaluate vendors, etc.

A must-have for any publisher, intellectual property lawyer, venture capitalist, technology vendor, or consulting firm dealing with digital content distribution or online intellectual property.

This book combines a business strategist's view of the DRM space with a sound explanation of the underlying technology, and also explains how both have evolved over the past decade. It's rare to find both views in any book, particularly one about an emerging software market. Usually, insights into markets like this book provides require purchasing research reports and speaking one-on-one to industry insiders. So, save yourself $10,000 and three weeks of work ... buy the book.

In an ever changing business landscape, I find nothing more comforting than relevant information. As an web application developer I used to always have questions about legality and DRM that nobody could answer. This book has a permananent spot on my shelf!

As noted below, DRM consists of legal, technical and business issues and anyone trying to provide an overview of all three has their work cut out for them. Particularly in the early chapters of the book, these authors give it a good try.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with the book is that they try to treat the technology standards and products available on the market, and the market is just changing too quickly for that to be for more than just a superficial look. Too much of what they discuss is already outdated, out-of-business, merged with other offerings or otherwise defunct. Not the fault of the authors, just the nature of the DRM market.

This book is:

Not a good read if you already understand the basic issues and hope to get more insight into the technology-- go to the web for that.

Absolutely a good read if you want to become familiar in a basic way in the underlying issues. Part 1 of the book is really useful reading even to help people who are pretty familiar with the topic structure their thinking.

When I first started Nancy Wolff's book I was expecting, given its subject matter, a dry and slow read of its ~240 pages. What I got was an interesting, fairly quick and enjoyable read on a subject that is not the sexiest. It almost made me think that I would enjoy being an intellectual property lawyer.

I agree with the other reviewers here that this book is not an all encompassing legal guide for professional photographers as the title might lead one to think and that another book like the one mentioned in another review here (Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington or maybe the ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography) would be necessary to more fully cover all the legal areas that a professional photographer may face.

While Ms. Wolff's book may not cover every legal area that a professional photographer may face, it does cover some important ones and does so very well. My only suggestion is that I would have preferred if there were a glossary of the legal terms used in the book. While most are defined somewhere in the text, I did need to look back a few times to remind myself of what they meant. In any case, I highly recommend this book.

Nancy Wolff has produced an up-to-date and extremely useful resource for those whose careers depend upon a working knowledge of copyright law, trademark protection and rights of privacy issues. And this is everyone working in the field of photography.

This book is the one that anyone who makes their living in the image business, be they a professional photographer, image licensing agency, designer or publisher has been waiting for.

Nancy Wolff is one of the leading copyright lawyers in the country and what she doesn't know (and generously share with her readers) is probably not worth knowing.

The most significant issue facing anyone who makes their living in the creative world today is how to protect their copyright. It's getting harder and harder as digital manipulation and copyright infringements increase, together with general ignorance on the subject.

In fact this book could save your livelihood if you are a photographer hoping to continue to make a living by your camera! Shooting the greatest pictures in the world is not going to help if you don't understand the basics of your rights and how to protect them.

I manage an international picture library and have read this book from cover to cover and found it completely invaluable.
L Dives

I bought this book because I wanted a better understanding of the legal aspects of photography. I expected to get a better understanding of contracts, property and persons release forms, but instead got a book that dealt mainly with copyright law. It's a boring book, I couldn't get past the first chapter. I skimmed through the 150 pages of 200 and something page book to see how copyright law is written, how the law is interpreted, the history of the law, cases of copyright violation. Basically 150 pages of information that could be found in the one page form after putting copyright into a search engine. I will be searching for a better book, I guess this one will just sit on the shelf and collect dust.

This is an excellent book. It's too bad its title is so misleading about its contents.

Wolff's book is divided into three sections. More than half of the book is devoted to copyright law, with an explanation of the statutes and cases affecting copyright in the United States. It includes a section on registering one's photographs for protection under these statutes. The second section is on basic trademark law, and here the author almost dismisses such law as it relates to photographers' work. The final section deals with the law of privacy and publicity. Wolff examines two states at the extremes in this area, but acknowledges that the law varies in each state and doesn't try to provide any across-the-board rules.

One inescapable conclusion that photographers who read this book will reach is that although it is not necessary to register one's works to preserve one's copyright, it may not be worth pursuing one's remedies for non-registered works. That's a good lesson to learn, and well worth the price of this book

What is misleading is to suggest that this book is a general legal handbook for professional photographers. Most photographers will want to know about other legal subjects not covered in the book, like contracts and leases and of these there is no mention. Indeed, this book seems more like the texts for lawyers that I read when starting my research when I was a lawyer involved in intellectual properties. It will also be of interest to stock agencies and photo buyers more than photographers. I suspect that photographers' eyes will glaze over as they start to read about particular cases and the courts' logic in deciding them. Most photographers will be looking for something more practical, like a discussion of what rights to give to someone purchasing or leasing a photograph or what to include in a model release. For photographers looking for this kind of information, John Harrington's " Best Business Practices for Photographers" would be a better choice. Then, if the photographer felt he or she wanted to learn still more about the limited areas covered by the book, this would be an excellent choice.

On the other hand, for those in the image industry like photo buyers and archivists, who are most likely to go astray, this is probably an excellent resource. Wolff's interpretations of the law and the cases seems accurate, to the best of my knowledge, without doing independent due diligence (darn that legal background!) and she reports on current cases. One should be careful however, since many of the most recent cases are still wending their way through the appeals process. And to my delight, she does mention one of my favorite concepts, changing the nature of the photographer's rights by contracts and licenses. Although she doesn't dwell on the topic, she is the only writer on the subject that I've read who mentions this aspect.

Now, I only read about forty pages, but I *really* didn't like what I read. The book is obviously rushed, and not very informative.

I have been doing research on securing public instant messaging protocols and thought this would be a great resource. It isn't. At least for AOLIM, it told me much less than I was able to find on the Internet with less than an hour of searching.

Here are some spot examples of problems:

"...as previously discussed, utilities such as dsniff can be used to decrypt these passwords while they are bring transmitted over a network."

But I cannot find a previous discussion. In fact, this is mention pretty much in isolation...there is no explanation of *how* one would use dsniff to decrypt the passwords. And, aside from mentioning that the passwords are encrypted using XOR encryption, there are no further details on what is going on - such as what is being XORed with what.

Later on the same page it says:

"Figure 2.1 shows the main screen for signing into the AIM service, while figure 2.xxx shows dsniff revealing AIM passwords."

What is with that 2.xxx? It looks like that figure never got included, and the 2.xxx was a place-holder that never got filled in! In fact, I cannot find a figure ANYWHERE in the book depicting dsniff uncovering the password.

The discussion of the AIM protocol takes up just under TWO PAGES. WHAT!? AOLIM is incredibly complex, involving either the OSCAR or TOC protocol, both of which are rather complex. Searching Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSCAR_protocol) provides MUCH more information than is included in the text.

Finally, the discussion of encryption is A PARAGRAPH. It pretty much says that AIM includes encryption. It gives no indication as to how the encryption works other than that it involves certificates. It doesn't even say WHAT KIND of certificates.

I am returning the book post-haste. If the abysmal quality of the coverage of AOLIM is any indication, this book is not definitely not worth acquiring.

I had high hopes for Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise (SIAPAFTE), and thankfully this book delivers. SIAPAFTE is a modern, well-written, thorough guide to instant messaging (IM), peer-to-peer (P2P), and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) networks and related security issues. I recommend all network and security administrators read this book.

SIAPAFTE is helpful in many respects. First, the book is up-to-date. It covers events as recent as the fall of 2005. The book also takes a historical approach to describing technologies by describing when and how they were introduced. Readers learn of the evolution of various IM and P2P clients and networks, as IM network owners seek to shut out rival clients and industry groups shut down P2P infrastructure.

Second, SIAPAFTE takes a comprehensive look at IM, P2P, and IRC technologies. I believe the authors picked the right networks and clients to discuss. IM is fairly simple to understand, since the clients are closely tied to the networks. P2P is less clear, since people often refer to clients like KaZaA (or Kazaa) without understanding that FastTrack is the underlying network. I learned of many technologies for the first time reading this book. Distributed Hash Table (DHT) and Kademlia are two examples.

Third, SIAPAFTE is well-written. The text is clear and the authors communicate their points in an organized and coherent manner. This does not mean the book is without flaws. Although Zeveck's one-star review (after reading just 40 pages -- please) is ridiculous, he is correct about a bad figure reference on p 27. The bottom of p 235 features a similar problem, and some pages have large chunks of inexplicable white space. I also thought the large lists of IM threats was not needed, especially when some of them ran several pages.

I liked the protocol analysis of various networks, particularly those for P2P. It seemed some protocols got more attention than others, however. The inclusion of IPTables and Snort rules was a nice touch. I would have liked to see that for the IM and IRC parts too. The IRC section could have used an IRC command reference. Since this is a book about IM and such in the enterprise, it would have been helpful to learn how to set up a secure internal IM system like Jabber or even a local IRC server.

For those keeping track of Syngress' recent tendency to reprint chapters from other books, SIAPAFTE is no exception. The last 20 pages in Ch 7 are Ch 13 from Skype Me! Oddly, no credit is given in SIAPAFTE for that other book's material.

Overall, I think anyone involved with networks or security will find SIAPAFTE a great resource. I found the book to be highly informative, and I recommend you read it. Addressing the issues in this review would merit a five star review for a second edition.

There are not a lot of books that cover IM and P2P security - when I found this I was skepitcal at first, but quickly found it to be a great reference, and the definitive source of information on SEcuring IM and P2P.

The book is very well organized with Chapters dedicated to each major program, making it easy to educate yourself on the common pitfalls of having IM and P2P in your environment.

This book is a great source for information on the dangers of instant messaging and p2p networks. Although this material can apply to personal use, it is geared more towards system administrators and networked environments.

The structure of the book is very well laid out, giving you the ability to jump from product to product or area of interest (such as AIM, eDonkey, or IRC as a whole). This approach makes it easy to locate the information you are looking for quickly, making it an excellent reference. The author has done a great job in being realistic is the approach to these systems. Rather than totally restricting their use, this book helps you to live with these systems, recognizing that they are often used or required for businesses.

If you are running a network, you almost definitely have this type of traffic on it. This book is definitely an excellent resource with large amounts of information on multiple types of systems

Noted security veteran Bruce Schneier has observed that for those organizations that have incorrectly deployed cryptography, it is akin to putting a big flagpole in front of your facility and hoping that it will stop any attackers from breaking in. Of course, any attacker with intelligence will simply go around the flagpole rather than running into it."

Similarly, many organizations have deployed myriad security hardware and software products in their infrastructure. But when it comes to instant messaging and peer to peer applications, these applications often execute below the radar of many security products. This is due to the fact that the security infrastructure in many organizations was not architected to deal with such applications. These applications often have so much functionality that it obviates much of the security afforded by the security hardware and software products.

Using file transfer as an example, many organizations have policies and controls in place to stop the use of protocols such as ftp and tftp. This is fine, but that will only work for the ftp protocol. File transfer can still be carried out by most instant messaging clients, and that can pose serious security risks.

With that, Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise provides an excellent overview on how to handle, manage and secure IM, P2P, and IRC applications. This book is written for security and system administrators that need specific details on how to control and secure IM, P2P and IRC applications in their organization.

The need to get a handle on IM and P2P is crucial given that IM has turned into a global communications medium with most organizations today reported that they allow it for business usage. Many marketing and technical support calls are now handled via IM and this translates in to well over 250 million IM users worldwide. P2P is great for downloading music and movies, but that that poses serious security and legal liability risks when done on most corporate networks.

But with all the benefits that IM provides, it introduces many security and privacy risks. IM viruses, identity theft issues, phishing, spyware and SPIM (SPAM over IM) are just a few of the many risks. These risks can turn into intellectual property losses and legal liability issues especially when they are combined with targeted attacks on corporate IM users. Companies that don't have an effective way in which to deal with IM and P2P are in serious danger as most IM and P2P threats fly under the radar of many traditional security solutions.

The book has a fairly straightforward approach. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to IM and the most common security issues that IM brings into an organization. The bulk of the remainder of the book details various different IM applications in Part 1 (AIM, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, Google, Skype), P2P applications in Part 2 (Gnutella, eDonkey/eMule, BitTorrent, FastTrack) and IRC networks and applications in Part 3.

Each chapter details the specific architecture of each application, its protocols, security issues, and solutions in which to secure the application. System administrators can use many of the checklists to quickly perform the initial steps necessary to secure their organization from unauthorized IM, P2P, and IRC applications.

Each chapter also provides significant details about the internals on how each application operates. In addition, various 3rd-party tools that can be used to secure and limit the various applications are listed.

Many companies are finding that a significant amount of their bandwidth is being used by P2P applications and Part 2 describes how to secure networks from the use of P2P applications. This is not always an easy thing to carry out given that many P2P applications, such as Gnutella are designed to easily bypass many of the security control mechanisms placed against it. Administrators will find that in this case, simply blocking Gnutella ports will not block all Gnutella traffic and the application still will be able to run. What is required in this case is the use of a firewall that supports deep packet inspection. Chapter 9 helpfully lists the commands to use when using iptables to block Gnutella traffic.

Chapter 12 provides an interesting look at FastTrack, which is the P2P protocol and network used by clients such as Grokster, Morpheus and other file sharing programs. The chapter also uses Ethereal to detail the internals of FastTrack.

Part 3 deals with IRC and is the sparsest part of the book. This is due to the fact the P2P and IM are much more heavily used on enterprise networks, which this book is geared to.

The only negatives about the book are its price, and some of its formatting. At $49.95, it is on the higher-end of computer security books, with the majority of such titles being in the $25.99 - $39.99 range. The formatting uses a font size that is somewhat larger than other book. This seemingly serves to achieve a high page count.

In addition, the book often references tables of secondary information that spans a few pages (for examples see pages 72-80, 115-120 and more). Such information would be better served in a multiple-column table in a smaller font. Printing the information in such a manner can cut down on the page total, and save a few trees at the same time.

Besides those two minor issues, Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise is a most helpful guide. Security and system administrators can use the book to get a handle on the increasing number of IM, P2P, and IRC applications that are found on the corporate networks they support.