Book Review

"How to make a Million Dollars out of Software Patents and 
Copyright"  by Lance Roman-Miller and Alex Gilandas

This book combines the expertise of a lawyer, Lance Roman-Miller,
and a psychologist, Alex Gilandas, to provide readers with
knowledge of intellectual property systems and how to use them 
to create wealth.  After all, Bill Gates would not be the richest
man alive if intellectual property on software did not exist. 
The book addresses these themes in two parts: Software Copyrights 
and Patents, and How to be in the Money.

The first part of the book summarizes the different intellectual
property systems that apply to software; namely, copyright, 
patents, trade secrets and trademarks.  It also explains the
meaning of software licenses, talks about the arguments pro 
and against piracy of software on the Internet, and provides
brief advice on when to enter into litigation in court.  The 
material is written based on Australian law.

The second part of the book explains how knowledge and 
the development of intellectual capital will be the way to 
acquire wealth in the 21st century.  The use of examples 
from a variety of areas is given to explain the idea-driven
wealth paradigm.  Further, it is argued that a sense of 
well-being is needed in order to be successful.

The book is intended for software developers who are not 
necessarily familiar with the legal system and who have 
questions like "how does the copyright and patent system 
work?", "can I patent my software?", "when should I use a 
trade secret?".  It addresses these and many other questions 
in a fairly chatty way, using informal language rather than 
legal jargon.  One of the best features of the book are 
the dot-point summaries at the end of each chapter in the
first part; these summaries give the reader to the key points 
of the whole chapter.

Book details: 
Lance Roman-Miller and Alex Gilandas, "How to Make a Million
Dollars Out of Software Patents and Copyright", 1998.
ISBN: 0-9585409-0-X.


Cristina Cifuentes, The University of Queensland
Anne Fitzgerald, Software Engineering Australia
January 1999