I''m a software engineer, who in his spare time has been working with a group of fellow enthusiests trying to create a game. My task is to build a scripting engine. Well the end result is far better than anything out there. And I''m thinking it wouldn''t be a bad idea to find out about liscencing the technology. I was just wondering if anyone knew of any good books on the subject of taking a piece of software, patenting it, licensing it, etc. I''m a computer nerd, and don''t know anything about business. Thanks, Shaft

I''m afraid I can''t think of a "How to Start and Run a Business" book, but there are some resources out there that might be able to help you. First you''ll want to look into getting a lawyer to secure your rights to your intellectual property (your scripting engine). Next you might want to get a name for your company and register it. This isn''t, honestly, quite so important as the intellectual property rights though. I''d recommend you just start your company as either a sole-propietorship (one owner) or a Limited Liability Partnership (two or more owners). You should be able to do a quick search on the web to find out more information about those two company models.

Your main concern, without being overly paranoid, should be in protecting your information. Never let a potential client/contact know too much about your product until you have them signed onto a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA for short); you can get these from lawyers and they often cost from $500 - $1000; from my experience anyway. The NDA is worth every penny you spend on it though. Years down the road that piece of paper may be protecting $300,000 worth of intellectual property.

My final piece of advice, for now, is to ask more questions as needed. Lay out your stages of development for your company and everytime you reach any kind of crossroads feel free to ask what you should do next. Its always a little bit tricky starting and managing a business at first, but if you keep an open mind and ask frequent questions you should be able to get the information you need to make sound decisions.

Hope this helps some.

Charles Galyon

Well I bought one of the ebooks on that website. It looks like it covers everything, and amazon gave the same author on a similar book great reviews, so hopefully this book is very good.

Thanks!

Nolo Press is a good recommendation. Sometimes, their books get a bit new-age-ish, but overall very good advice.

Michael Phillips books "Honest Business" and "Marketing Without Advertising" are both worth checking out. He also wrote "The Seven Laws of Money" back in the 70''s, which has an interesting approach to money matters.


DavidRM
Samu Games