The U.S. patent and trademark legal system has helped make our economy the envy of the world. But "plain and simple" are not usually words associated with it...until now. Patents and Trademarks Plain & Simple is the book all would-be inventors, writers, and designers have been waiting for. Patents and Trademarks Plain & Simple includes: * A brief history of our patent system. * An explanation of what can be patented. * What needs to be included in a patent application. * How to do a patent search. * How to select a patent attorney. * Whether to seek patent protection in the first place. It also covers patent prosecution, design patents, invention marketing, licensing, designing around patents, and inventors and the IRS, foreign patents, and employer and employee invention rights.