Where To Find Books About Intellectual Property

[tweetmeme source=”Intellogist” only_single=false] Where can one find the best recommendations for recent books on intellectual property?  I’m on the constant lookout for the answer to this question. I get some of my recommendations directly from the left sidebar of this blog, such as the must-read book Patent Searching: Tools & Techniques, edited by David Hunt, Long Nguyen, and Matt Rodgers. I find other useful book reviews and notices through a number of popular IP blogs, such as IPKat and PatentlyO.  I also use other common resources, such as Amazon, GoodReads, and WorldCat, to locate lists of recent intellectual property books (and find out where I can borrow or buy them).

Continue reading to learn some of the techniques I use to find interesting new books about intellectual property topics, and share your suggestions on where I can locate the best IP books!

IP Books on Blogs

Blogs are excellent resources for locating recently released IP books and getting in-depth reviews by patent and IP law experts.  Here are just a few of the intellectual blogs that regularly publish book reviews:

• PatentlyO – This popular patent law blog occasionally publishes detailed reviews on books dealing with various intellectual property and patent law issues.  The last post under the Book Review tag was published in October 2011, but continue to keep an eye on this blog for the occasional book review.
• IPKat – The IPKat blog posts book notices on a fairly regular basis, usually every few months, and these posts often recommend two or three books revolving around a single intellectual property topic, such as trade secrets.
• Patent Baristas – The Patent Baristas sometimes add to their ongoing series of Book Review Mondays, when they post a lengthy review on a recently published book in the intellectual property field.  The books suggested in these reviews often provide broad overviews on general IP topics, and these recommendations will be useful for readers new to the IP field.

Also check out of side bar of this blog for book recommendations on the topic of patent searching and patent law.

IP Bookshelf on GoodReads

Goodreads is more suited to locating fiction books for casual reading, but the site does offer an Intellectual Property bookshelf of about 150 books that cover an eclectic range of topics, including many books on copyright and trademark issues.  Select a book from the list to for a full-record view that includes bibliographic data and a summary of the book, where the book can be bought through various online stores (as well as a link to WorldCat), and multiple user reviews and ratings.

IP Books on Amazon

Amazon.com offers a detailed hierarchy of book subjects which users can browse, and the user can drill down to the subject of Intellectual Property (under the Law category).  The Intellectual Property section of Amazon.com allows users to sort through over 10,000 books by format (paperback, hardcover, Kindle, or audio edition), and users also have access to a sidebar with additional filtering options, such as release date, author, book series, language, or customer rating.  Amazon also offers a page that lists best sellers in Intellectual Property Law.

Intellectual property books listed on Amazon.com.

Searching WorldCat for IP Books

WorldCat is a search system provided by OCLC Libraries that can search content from over 10,000 libraries and includes 1.5 billion items, so you can use this resource to locate books on the subject of IP law in libraries around the world.  Select the Books search option and enter the query “su:Intellectual property” to search for books under the subject of intellectual property.  You can then use the sidebar on the results page to filter by publication year, language, additional topics, etc. Select a result to view the full record for the book, including a list of libraries where the book is available.

Intellectual property books on WorldCat.

How Do You Find Your IP Books?

These are just a few suggestions for locating IP-related books through both specialized IP blogs and mainstream resources like Amazon and WorldCat.  Where do you find the best recommendations and reviews for books on the subject of intellectual property?  What IP books are you reading right now?  Tell us in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.