This is the fourth edition of a booklet that first appeared in 1986. It is a primer, like its predecessors, to make corporate personnel streetwise about current laws involving patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets.

The law has come a long way since 1981, and so have we. As you will note in the following pages Congress has recently overhauled the patent and trademark systems to make our laws conform to the rest of the world. New sanctions have also been added to protect your products and services from both domestic and foreign copying.

From a humble beginning as a sole practitioner who mostly dealt in the United States, our firm has expanded to three experienced patent attorneys, plus two legal assistants, all of whom routinely handle international accounts. Our firm has even earned a national reputation as innovators in trademarks and copyrights, due to our having obtained several difficult registrations and a string of successes in court. For those of you who are interested, you can "Meet the Firm" at our website: www.hblaw.org.

The firm's name has also changed, from Holland & Associates to Holland & Bonzagni, P.C. That is because Mary R. Bonzagni became a partner in 1995, after six years of hard work and dedicated service to her clients.

Over the years, we have constantly received compliments about the earlier editions of this booklet. I hope you find this revised version just as useful.

Sincerely,

Donald S. Holland, Esq.