About the Authors

Stephen Elias received a law degree from Hastings College of Law in 1969. He practiced in California, New York and Vermont until 1980 when he decided to make a full-time career of helping nonlawyers understand and use the law. Steve has written and edited over 30 books for Nolo Press including six books on intellectual property law. He co-authored Trademark: Legal Care for Your Business and Product Name and is the legal editor of Patent it Yourself, The Inventor's Notebook, The Copyright Handbook, Copyright Your Software and Software Development: A Legal Guide.
Patricia Gima has been an editor and author at Nolo.com since 1993. Patricia has practiced law in he areas of copyright, trademark and software licensing. She is currently the editor of several ntellectual property titles published by Nolo, including Trademark: Legal Care for Your Business & Product Name, and License Your Invention and Patent Searching Made Easy. Patricia is also co-author of Nolo's Pocket Guide to California Law and The Trademark Registration Kit.