Rating: 
Summary: The First of Its Kind
Review: Intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets) is one of the most valuable assets of any business, whether it be a start-up or large multi-national. Business people, however, who are already overextended, usually don't have time to learn intellectual property basics or how to utilize intellectual property to maximize profits. Mike Lechter's book is the first to cut through the jargon and explain in plain English how to recognize and protect valuable intellectual property. The reader receives a solid, working knowledge of all aspects of intellectual property law complete with examples. A powerful business tool for corporate professionals and entrepreneurs.
Rating:
Summary: A "MUST READ" for any business person, inventor, or author
Review: Micheal Lechter has done us all a valuable favor by writing this book! As an experienced attorney dealing with copyrights, patents, and trademarks, his experience, illustrations and insights are priceless! If you are a business owner, investor, inventor, author, or doing just about ANYTHING that has income potential beyond a 9-5 job, then you NEED to read, absorb and apply the knowledge of this book to protect yourself from the competition and "thieves" out there who would like to profit from your intellectual property--at YOUR expense. This is a "must read" as a part of your overall business and investment education. I also recommend ALL of Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad" books, and thus far, all the "Rich Dad Advisor" series that I have read (of which this book is a part) are also worthy of your time and investment.
Rating: 
Summary: Keeping Sole Ownership of Your Valuable Ideas!
Review: Protecting Your #1 Asset is one of the most helpful introductions to the legal side of intellectual property acquisition and management that I have seen. Few who are not intellectual property attorneys have this knowledge. As a result of ignorance, many well-meaning individuals make substantial mistakes that cost them substantial incomes. This book will "alert you to the pitfalls that can strip the rights from the unwary."This book covers the primary ways to protect intellectual property, including trade secrets, utility and design patents, mask work protection, copyrights, trademarks, and trade dress. This is done in the context of maximizing your revenue and income by creating protected intellectual property and creating competitive barriers, while minimizing the risk of receiving and being harmed by third-party claims against you. The book's set piece is Robert Kiyosaki's experience with inventing what he called a "shoe pocket" which was Velcro and nylon wallet that is now called a "surfer shoe." Mr. Kiyosaki did not protect his idea, and was soon put out of business by competitors who copied and outperformed him. The book then goes into a number of horror story examples of how simple mistakes can cost a person or a company its intellectual property. Some mistakes can be as simple as not properly dating invention notes, while others can involve "abandoning" the invention by not continuously working on it. The book gives you a lot of guidelines of what you need to do to obtain and retain protection, and helps you understand the pros and cons (and availability of these protections). As someone who studied intellectual property in law school, I found the book impressive. I intend to recommend it to those I know who are developing intellectual property but have limited knowledge of the field. The book's main weakness is that it doesn't give you a sense of what the costs are related to these protections. If you have intellectual property worth a billion dollars and lots of cash now, that's not a problem. Go for the best protection! On the other hand, if you have something that you're not sure what the value is and not much cash, you may want to take the less expensive routes. Top intellectual property legal advice will usually cost hundreds of dollars an hour. A worldwide patent position can cost well into six figures in dollars. So if you need intellectual property counsel, get into those cost issues at the beginning of your relationship. If trade secret and copyright protections are enough, the advantage they have is that they are not very costly to obtain and maintain. In seeking out intellectual property help, do try to find an attorney who is experienced and has educational credentials in the field in which you are seeking protection for your work. A small percentage of the bar (less than 5 percent) is well qualified to work in these areas as Mr. Lechter implies. Within that small group, one person in 30 will probably be much better suited to your issues. Take the time to find that person. After you finish reading and thinking about this book, I suggest that you also consider how you could build a business out of just creating intellectual property. That business model may be one of the most valuable in the decades ahead. Seek ideal improvements daily!
Rating: 
Summary: How to protect, but NOT how to sell.
Review: This book has a great deal of useful information on protecting your ideas and a lot of intellectual property legal mumbo jumbo, but it provides ZERO ideas or insights on selling your ideas-which is the hardest part. Every Jane Doe and Joe Schmoe has great ideas that could potentially make them millions in licensing fees and royalties, but actually taking a great idea and turning it into cash in the bank-unless you are a wizard at raising capital-is nigh on impossible.
Unfortunately this book is no help whatsoever. A fairly good legal reference on intellectual property law, nothing more.
Rating:
Summary: A great book that covers a lot of ground
Review: This book was an extremely helpful book for me because of the fact that it covers so many different areas of intellectual property protection. Because it covers so much and so many different types of intellectual property protection, it is a book that really makes you think about all the possibilities. I like the fact that it is very broad. Considering that the book is written by an attorney who is bound by the rules of ethics not to disclose his client's confidential matters, I found the book to have ample specifics and examples of different types of intellectual property protection.
My personal impression is that it is a book that can help business owners looking to protect their intellectual property as well as those who are interested in a more scholarly approach. That is the genius of this book. It can be very useful to many different kinds of readers. I think that even a lot of attorneys who practice in different areas of the law would probably find this book extremely valuable. That is a great complement to the author. As the title indicates, it makes you realize that your intellectual property is really your number one asset.
Rating:
Summary: A great book that covers a lot of ground
Review: This book was an extremely helpful book for me because of the fact that it covers so many different areas of intellectual property protection. Because it covers so much and so many different types of intellectual property protection, it is a book that really makes you think about all the possibilities. I like the fact that it is very broad. Considering that the book is written by an attorney who is bound by the rules of ethics not to disclose his client's confidential matters, I found the book to have ample specifics and examples of different types of intellectual property protection. My personal impression is that it is a book that can help business owners looking to protect their intellectual property as well as those who are interested in a more scholarly approach. That is the genius of this book. It can be very useful to many different kinds of readers. I think that even a lot of attorneys who practice in different areas of the law would probably find this book extremely valuable. That is a great complement to the author. As the title indicates, it makes you realize that your intellectual property is really your number one asset.
Rating: 
Summary: Dry and boring. Could barely keep my eyes open.
Review: Unlike the rest of the Rich Dad books that I've read -- which were for the most part fantastic -- this book was terrible. Michael Lechter may indeed be a very bright guy and a star in his field, but he is an absolutely horrendous writer. The intro by Robert Kiyosaki was the only really enjoyable part to the book. Lechter immediately jumped into complex explanations of the various types of IP protection available without really clarifying anything for the lay person like me. And no real life examples of anything -- just references to a couple hypothetical "horror stories" that he relays at the beginning of the book. The only reason I gave this book 2 stars and not 1 is because at the very least I was able to get some basic definitions of IP terms down. But I guess I could've gotten that from a dictionary too.
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