ABSTRACT
Intellectual property rights are often the most valuable assets owned, used and developed by a software house. One has only to contemplate the earnings of a company such as Microsoft and its owner, Bill Gates, to appreciate their significance. Intellectual property rights include confidential information, patents, trade marks, designs and most importantly the copyrights protecting computer programs. They protect information stored by electronic means and all of the paperwork which accompanies a program, such as the user manual, plus any multimedia packages and most items on the Web. Great care should be taken to protect, exploit and enforce intellectual property; and all contracts between a software house and its employees, consultants, sup pliers and customers should address the issue.
