The chapters in this book are based on papers presented at a symposium entitled ‘Feist, Facts, and Functions: IP Protection for Works Beyond Entertainment’, which was held in Washington, DC on 28 September 2007. The symposium was co-sponsored by The George Washington University Law School and the Software and Information Industry Association. For their support of the project, I would like to thank Frederick M. Lawrence, the Dean of the Law School; Michael Ryan, Director of the Law School’s Creative and Innovative Economy Center; Ken Wasch, President of the Software and Information Industry Association; and Keith Kupferschmid, Senior Vice President of the Association. For their aid in organizing and staffing the event, I would like to thank Sarah Huisentruit Orye, Shauna Eisenberg, and Thomas Lee of the Creative and Innovative Economy Center. For his superlative assistance in compiling the indices, I would like to thank David Yung Ho Kim, whose work was generously supported by the Cardozo Law School during my visit there in the Spring of 2009; for his timely support in finalizing the indices, I would like to thank Thomas Mittenzwei. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank the participants in the Symposium for their presentations and for their subsequent contributions to this volume, from which I have learned a great deal.

"Clear, correct, and deep, this is a welcome addition to discussions of law and computing for anyone -- even lawyers!" -- Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society If you work in information technology, intellectual property is central to your job -- but dealing with the complexities of the legal system can be mind-boggling. This book is for anyone who wants to understand how the legal system deals with intellectual property rights for code and other content. You'll get a clear look at intellectual property issues from a developer's point of view, including practical advice about situations you're likely to encounter. Written by an intellectual property attorney who is also a programmer, Intellectual Property and Open Source helps you understand patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and licenses, with special focus on the issues surrounding open source development and the GPL.