Customer Reviews

Essentials of Intellectual Property (Essentials Series)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
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This is an excellent book that I believe can help level the playing field for smaller companies vis-a-vis their larger competitors concerning exploiting the full value of
their intellectual property rights. The authors include a chapter addressed to corporate officers and directors concerning potential liability for mismanaging intellectual property. This chapter alone is an eye-opener that ought to be read by every director and officer not only to avoid liability but to enhance share value. The authors have given the reader a seminal work concerning the difficult nature of patent valuation including a method that uses the Black-Scholes option-pricing algorithm (since a patent's value, like an option, decreases with the passage of time, all other things being equal). The authors discuss the methods utilized to value a patent in a publicly traded company and point out that Eli Lilly lost $35 billion in market capitalization when one of its two Prozac patents was declared invalid for double-patenting, thus, demonstrating the enormous value of that patent. I am a patent attorney who learned much from this book. This is a highly readable and even entertaining book that makes an excellent primer for anyone interested in the business of intellectual property.

The strength of this book is that it provides a comprehensible introduction to intellectual property - focusing on patents. If you want to learn something about intellectual property without wading too deep into lawyerspeak - this book may interest you. In addition to patents - trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets are discussed; other aspects of intellectual property are waved at. The last chapter provides dated coverage of intellectual property as it relates to the Internet - mostly focusing on business method patents. This is interesting from a business perspective but the authors do not seem versed in the technical aspects of E-Commerce. Laches and estoppel are demystified and the book presents what looks like solid advice on how to enforce your rights against a group of infringers (attack the weakest one first). There are clearly divided sections (making the frequent pauses that I occasionally made between readings convenient), key ideas are highlighted in an attractive manner and charts and graphs are well presented.

I'm not sure there is enough in depth information in this book to make it really useful. Just before the authors really dig into a subject they roll out their well-oiled marketing spiel - "consult a lawyer/professional on this issue". Patent law is even compared to brain surgery at one point. While consulting with a lawyer on serious patent litigation is probably good advice - it would have been nice if the authors had gone into more depth on the advice a lawyer might give. Throughout the book, patent law is treated as an impenetrable black box - the reader can get a look at the outside and hear a little about what goes on inside but opening the box entirely is expressly forbidden. I was repeatedly given the impressiion that the main purpose of this book was to serve to market the services of intellectual property attorneys and consultants to corporate executives.

Another flaw in the book is that the index is weak - which, along with the sparse table of contents and vague referrals to previous chapters - makes the book a poor reference. Another irritating blemish is that while the book presents a number of statistics, it includes no information on where they came from. Some sort of footnote referring to sources would have been nice.

Additional note (15 Jul): If you are at all interested in studying or learning about patents I highly recommend Patent it Yourself by David Pressman. I've only read the first few chapters but it's already clear that Patent it Yourself is ever so much more comprehensive, useful and practical than Essentials of Intellectual Property.

As a quick primer, I found this book to be terrific. And the dry humour was appreciated as well. Never thought I'd make it through so quickly, and yet come away with such a good appreciation of the subject matter.

This book took all the mystery out of the complex issue of intellectual property: what it is, how it works, and how it can work for you. Easy to read and comprehensive.

This book is both concise and complete in covering the major aspects of IP. Using language and examples that are easy to understand, I found this book to be a quick intro to the fast-growing world of IP. Highly recommended.

As a quick primer, I found this book to be terrific. And the dry humour was appreciated as well. Never thought I'd make it through so quickly, and yet come away with such a good appreciation of the subject matter.

This is good for non-lawyers who work in management and have no idea what IP means, nor how to make this form of property benefit (or not harm) your company.

This book whet my appetite for more details. I would recommend this book for anyone who needs a crash course in IP.

This book helped me utilize the best strategy for using Intellectual property to the needs of my business. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is serious in knowing how to use their companies IP in augmenting their benefit.

This book gives the reader a good idea of the legal and financial implications of intellectual property management, without resorting to excessive "legalese." It is well-written and often even witty, with a friendly tone that makes complex material that much more accessible. IP is not just for patent attorneys anymore!

This is simply the best book on the subject.
Answered all of my questions trough clear examples and was surprisingly up to date.It would be nice if there were more material on open source legal issues, however.