Attorney Stephen Fishman's THE COPYRIGHT HANDBOOK: WHAT EVERY WRITER NEEDS TO KNOW, here appearing in its 9th updated edition to reflect the latest law and copyright regulations. Internet works are covered here, as blogs: a cd-rom provides over thirty updated legal and copyright forms, while chapters handle how to avoid infringement, handle infringers, and get permission to use copyrighted work.

This book is very comprehensive. It contained all the information that I needed and more. I would recommend it for anyone needing Precise information on copyright law.

I have to grit my teeth in anger when I think of all the wasted hours I've spent reading web site and magazine articles written by people who had no idea what they were talking about in regard to the often confusing world of copyright law.

The simple purchase and reading of Fishman's book would have saved me all that time, trouble, and confusion. He does a great job of laying out everything I've ever wanted to know about copyright law, in understandable terms...and alleviates any doubt by presenting brilliantly clear "examples" of almost every point.

If you want to learn as much as possible about copyright, without having to spend years becoming a copyright attorney, this is the book for you.

Will be using this book for important information on copyrights and more. An excellent book!

When I started out as a writer in 1967 I signed away all of my writes for 5 cents a word. The magazine was sharp enough to take away all of my rights and I was naive enough to let them. I blame it on being barely out of my teens and not knowing my options. But today there's no excuse for that.

The title of this book says it all. Every writer "should" be armed with this information.

Rights to what you create are important. They can be used as a bargaining chip. You may not want to sell all of your rights. You may want to keep some rights for many reasons. In fact, it's seldom in your best interest to transfer "all" rights to your work in my opinion.

Clients often think they are buying all rights when they hire a copywriter, for example. The truth is they are not. Unless the contract specifies the work is a work for hire, the creator actually owns the work.

By having this knowledge, the writer can craft intelligent contracts that protect both the client and the writer.

But a writer also needs to know about using the works of others. What are his liabilities in certain instances? What can he do and what shouldn't he do when it comes to the use of other people's work? What about using charts, pictures, etc? All this is in this great book.

Copyright is one of the biggest issues facing the writer. It's an area where most people have very limited knowledge. You should protect yourself and this book should be on your desk at all times. If you're like me, you'll refer to it often and it will be a book you'll both read and use.

But you get a bonus with this book. You get a CD with all the forms you could ever need! This is really valuable. The CD is worth the price of the book if you didn't read a word. If you download the forms from the U.S. Copyright Office, you'll need a typewriter or you'll have to fill them out by hand. With the CD, it's a snap. In addition, you actually get understandable instructions --- something the government isn't keen on supplying.

So buy this book if you buy no other book this year. It can save you a ton of headaches and probably many lawsuits.

I hire work-for-hire writers to create story anthologies and have become increasingly frustrated by the tendency of many to liberally "borrow" the written words of others found via the Internet. This book's chapters on Copyright Infringement and Copyright in the Online World have been invaluable resources that I have used to educate both myself and my writers. The author has wonderful tools for assessing and evaluating similarities between two texts, a test for paraphrasing, sample legal cases and judgments, letters to send to copyright violaters, an examination of liability issues, and more.

I routinely purchase an updated copy of this handbook every few years. The blank forms in the Appendix and the accompanying CD are worth the price of the book alone. The author does a great job of covering copyright basics, copyright notice, and copyright registration. The book offers easy-to-understand explanations of some pretty complex legal issues. You should be able to find answers to your copyright FAQs here. Very thorough and a bargain, especially when you consider what a lawyer charges. I'm not advocating that you don't avail yourself of a lawyer when necessary, but it pays to do your homework and understand the issues, and with this book you can.

A redundant and poorly written tome that does not answer the important questions.