Customer Reviews

Intellectual Property: The Law of Copyrights, Patents and Trademarks (Hornbook Series Student Edition)

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... you've found your IP hornbook.

This is an essential buy for any law student taking IP. IP is a tough course with a lot of uncertainty, but this volume does a great job of simplifying the material. It was easy to digest and an enjoyable read during finals period.

The book is laid-out in a similar pattern as my course was, dividing trademark, patent, trade secret, copyright, as well as providing a short treatment on international IP and federal preemption of state IP law.

Be warned: this edition was published in 2003 and there's been a lot of change in the law of IP since then. You'll want to study the KSR case, TM Dilution Revision Act of 2006, and the latest from the Fed. Cir. in addition to this excellent treatment.

I plan on keeping this book by my side when I begin practicing, and look forward to the 2nd edition.

Intellectual property is now very different from 1997, when the comparable work of the eminent Paul Godstein was published.
The present work is a service for European lawyers, who must know rather much about the American legal tradition and be able to discern the similarities behind different concepts and the differences where one would not expect to find them.
The book is written in a lucid way avoiding extreme "legalese" and avoiding partisan tones. Readers might remember that here they are presented an outline for not very advanced lawyers - who naturally use Nimmer - Nimmer and the other vast works about IP.

It is a comprehensive but thorough book. I recommend it as a starting point in this field.