Intellectual Property: Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights

I was assigned this text in my Advanced Intellectual Property class. It was extremely interesting, with a huge amount of information. It is one of the few IP textbooks written for paralegals -- most are written for lawyers -- and I learned a tremendous amount. However, I recommend that paralegals who are completely new to IP law start with Deborah E. Bouchoux's "Intellectual Property" text for paralegals first, because Stim's book is definitely a more advanced text. Had I not read Bouchoux's introductory text first, I would have had a much harder time with Stim's text. I have put the Stim text on the recommended books list of the Association of Intellectual Property Paralegals (AOIPP), on the "IP Books" webpage at: http://aoipp.org/ip-books/ The only reason I gave the book four stars instead of five is because some sections of it need updating, in view of changes in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office forms changes, rules changes, etc. With regard to the criticism below that the book did not devote enough time to patent law -- the book devotes 95 pages to patent law -- two long chapters, but the bulk of the book was devoted to copyright and trademark law. There are jobs for trademark paralegals and copyright paralegals, but I would suggest that the author give patent law "equal time" in his next revision of the book. Despite this one criticism, I found the book very useful.

I got the first edition of this book because it was the required text for a course I took in UC Berkeley a number of years ago. I have been practicing IP law for about 10 years and I still use it as a quick reference (I also obtained the 2nd Edition). In my opinion this is a very well done book and an useful tool for someone who wants to have the overall picture of a complex issue.

A waste of paper is rather harsh. Yes, this book is not for the paralegal, but I found that it was a great primer for those that may be interested in some of the operation of law -- exactly who I am. I have no real desire to be a paralegal or more, nor do I want to study law in school, but this book is great in that I am presented with basic information in readable form, with no background in law. I give this four stars because it seems to advertise highly technical information, when it really isn't.

The work, written origionally for IP paralegals, trancends it's origional purpose and serves as a rational, readable introduction to IP. This books excellence has made it a standard for many years and it's quality remains undiminished.