Web & Software Development: A Legal Guide [Paperback]

Stephen Fishman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1413300871 | ISBN-13: 978-1413300871 | Publication Date: July 2004 | Edition: 4th

Protect your rights, and your hard work!

The laws covering website and software development are complex and confusing, but if you don't untangle them, it could cost you thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees and lawsuits.

Fortunately, Web & Software Development decodes this complex area of the law, thoroughly and in reader-friendly English.The book also provides contracts, agreements and legal forms on CD-ROM, with step-by-step instructions for filling them out, so you can protect your software and website without paying a lawyer's ransom.

Use Web & Software Development to learn:

*what kind of legal protection you need
*the strengths and limitations of each type of protection
*how to avoid infringement
*which provisions you need when drafting an agreement
*how to obtain permission to use other people's materials

You'll find complete, step-by-step instructions to draft:

*employment agreements
*contractor and consultant agreements
*development agreements
*license agreements

The 4th edition offers a new section on one of the hottest topics in web and software development: open source, including licensing, liability for end users and the battle over Linux.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An amazing book! Answers nearly every legal question you can imagine and some you would have never thought of. -- John Dvorak, PC Magazine

Covers every imaginable detail important to such a rapidly growing and intangible medium. -- Entrepreneur

This book passes my own personal test for legal guides --with higher marks than any other legal guide. -- Jeff Duntemann, Editor, PC Techniques Magazine

About the Author

Stephen Fishman received his law degree from the University of Southern California in 1979. After stints in government and private practice, he became a full-time legal writer in 1983. He has helped write and edit over a dozen reference books for attorneys. He is the author of Software Development: A Legal Guide, Copyright Your Software, The Copyright Handbook, Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements, Wage Slave No More: Law & Taxes for the Self-Employed, and Hiring Independent Contractors: The Employer's Legal Guide, all published by Nolo.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: NOLO; 4th edition (July 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413300871
• ISBN-13: 978-1413300871
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #810,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Fishman is the author of many Nolo books, including Tax Deductions for Professionals. Other titles include Deduct It! Lower Your Small Business Taxes, Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide and Home Business Tax Deductions: Keep What You Earn--plus many other legal and business books. He received his law degree from the University of Southern California in 1979. After time in government and private practice, he became a full-time legal writer in 1983.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable and essential for developers and buyers, May 12, 2002

By 

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Web and Software Development: A Legal Guide (With CD-ROM) (Paperback)

This book/CD ROM combination covers intellectual property from a developer's (and buyer's) perspective. It is both a tutorial in the basics and is filled with useful advice about all relevent issues, including employee and contractor agreements, trade secret protection, copyright rights (assignment, ownership and related issues), and how to protect all parties in a fair and equitable manner.It covers contemporary issues such as domain names, web content and multimedia, making it especially useful to technical and non-technical readers.

In addition to clear explanations of complex topics and sound advice, this book comes with a CD ROM with a wealth of forms in RTF format (which can be edited in Microsoft Word and most other word processing programs). These 30 forms cover employee and contractor agreements, software and web development agreements, nondisclosure agreements, copyright assignments and license agreements and how to handle publicity releases and promotional materials in multimedia format. The latter is particularly challenging because not only are names involved, but photos and often voice and video files for which you need permission to use if you don't own it or it becomes a privacy issue. If you perform or contract for web or software development, including content, then you need this book.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars REQUIRED READING FOR ALL COMPUTER CONSULTANTS!, August 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Web and Software Development: A Legal Guide (Web & Software Development: A Legal Guide (W/CD)) (Paperback)

One of the problem with this industry is that they do not prepare programmers for the realities of business. This book is an eye opening review of the considerations that must be considered when programmers must work the business side of what they do.

Although there is a lot of attention paid to intellectual property law, there is a lot of good information for the consultant to read. The rest of the book is about agreements and contracts, which every contractor needs. With the samples on the CD, it provides solid guidelines on the business of programming!

If you are a consultant, especially an independent consultant, they why don't you have a copy of this book??

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on the subject., September 7, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Web and Software Development: A Legal Guide (Web & Software Development: A Legal Guide (W/CD)) (Paperback)

This is simply the best book on the subject. It appears to have been recently updated from the older version, with much new info. The strenght of this book is it doesn't go into "legalese" - instead, the caveats of software development are explained in plain english. If you are entering into a legal software development contract, this book is a necessity and worth it's price many times over. Great for the small developer, not just the big shops!