The jacket of this book suggests that, after reading it, persons in the software business will be able to understand patents, copyrights, and trademarks; protect their trade secrets; create software contracts; draft software development agreements; and obtain multimedia permissions. In aid of the latter three activities, a diskette containing electronic forms is provided in a pocket inside the rear cover. The author is identified not just as Stephen Fishman, but as Attorney Stephen Fishman.

The impression created by the publishers of this book borders on the irresponsible. In fact, the jacket should carry a warning along the following lines: “Warning: After reading this book, persons in the software business may think that they are able to understand patents, copyrights, and trademarks; protect their trade secrets; create software contracts; draft software development agreements; and obtain multimedia permissions, but they are not. These areas of law are so abstruse and fact-dependent that proceeding without an attorney’s advice on your particular situation is unusually risky. The form agreements on the enclosed diskette should under no circumstances be used for anything other than educational purposes.”

The book itself is actually a serviceable and readable introduction to many (but not all) areas of the law that are of interest--or that should be of interest--to software developers. It is oriented to intellectual property rights as opposed to any other legal regimes, such as tax law, employment law, securities law, or product liability law, that affect software development. The proper way to regard this book is as something useful to read before sitting down with one’s attorney to discuss a particular intellectual property problem, and the principal reason to read this book is that it will cut down the amount of time one’s attorney needs to spend explaining general principles of law, thereby saving the reader many times its purchase price.