Whether you're an inventor, designer, writer or programmer, you need to understand the language of intellectual property law. Otherwise, you can't intelligently deal with intellectual property issues such as: who owns creative works or valuable information; how owners can protect and enforce their ownership rights; how disputes between intellectual property owners can be resolved, and how ownership rights can best be transferred to others. With Patent, Copyright & Trademark, you will: get clear overviews of relevant laws; understand the different kinds of protection offered by patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, and which apply to your work; get a plain-English definition of every term you're likely to come across, and find the information you need, quickly and easily all entries are organized by topic and extensively cross-referenced. This edition has been updated to reflect the latest changes in intellectual property law and provides the latest U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rules and forms. It includes up-to-date discussions of the new ""first to file"" rule, which promises to revolutionize patent law. Plus, read all new Q&As excerpted from author Richard Stim's popular blog, 'Dear Rich.'