Book Review

Legal Protection of Digital Information
Lee A. Hollaar
The Bureau of National Affairs, Washington DC
ISBN 1-57018-340-6
www.digital-law-online.info

Reviewed by Terrance Malkinson

Copyright law is complex, and with advances in information technologies, it has taken on an even higher level of complexity. Drawing on his unique experience in the field of computer science and the law, Lee Hollaar offers a comprehensive and practical analysis of patent and copyright law in the electronic age. He presents his analysis in clear, straightforward language, suitable for both non-experts who want to understand key concepts, and intellectual property specialists who need key passages from related statutes and legal cases. All readers will gain insight into applying intellectual property law strategically in this electronic age. In addition, readers will discover the key to protecting digital information.

Dr. Hollaar is a professor of computer science at the University of Utah. He is a registered patent agent, holds patents on software and hardware systems, and has been an expert witness in a number of patent and anti-trust cases. He served as a lead technical expert in the Microsoft antitrust suit. He was also a Committee Fellow in the intellectual property unit of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, where he worked on the patent reform bill, and on what became the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. He was one of the drafters of the Utah Digital Signature Act, making Utah the first government in the world to recognize digital signatures as being equivalent to handwritten ones.

This 498-page, five-chapter resource provides an introduction to patent and copyright law in the digital arena; cites key cases that define the scope of what can be patented; and provides interpretations of important copyright and patent statutes. It also provides one of the most thorough discussions and analyses of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Chapter headings include: an overview of copyright; copyright of computer programs; copyright of digital information; an overview of patents; and software-based inventions. Appendices include excerpts from the U.S. Code of Copyright (Title 17); the U.S. Code of Crime and Criminal Procedures (Title 18); and the U.S. Code on Patents (Title 35).

As an added value, Dr. Hollaar’s Web site (www.digital-law-online.info) contains the full text of the book with an active table of contents, making it easy to navigate anywhere within the printed version with a click of the mouse. Dr. Hollaar has also painstakingly added hypertext links in the footnotes to all court decisions, Congressional documents and other material material quoted and cited in the book. The Web site will be updated regularly to reflect errata and changes to the printed treatise.

Legal Protection of Digital Information, published in November 2002, is comprehensive and well written by a recognized authority in the field. It would be a valuable resource for your personal or business library. It may be purchased from BNA Books, P.O. Box 7814, Edison, NJ 08818-7814. Telephone orders: +1 800 960 1220. Fax orders: +1 732 346 1624, or online at www.bnabooks.com.

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Terrance Malkinson is a proposal manager/documentation specialist; an elected Senator of the University of Calgary; international correspondent for IEEE-USA Today's Engineer; and editor of the IEEE Management Society Newsletter. Opinions expressed are the author's. IEEE-USA Today's Engineer; and editor of the IEEE Management Society Newsletter. Opinions expressed are the author's.