Reference: Legal

“It is difficult to make our material condition better by the best law, but it is easy enough to ruin it by bad laws.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt

Nolo Press
Browse a wide range of legal information, including many legal issues relevant to small business.

Cornell Law School
This site is more formal and a little less approachable than the others, but is well-organized and includes the actual text of many laws.

Lectric Law Library: Business Law
Lectric Law Library: Reference Room
This is a legal resource with an attitude. Visit it after the Cornell site for a culture shock. It can be a little hard to navigate, so I've included direct links to two useful sections.

FreeAdvice.com
This site answers many common legal questions in many categories, from intellectual property to criminal law. Information is presented in an easy-to-use question-and-answer format.

Glossaries
Everybody's Legal Glossary
Browse legal terms in Nolo Press's dictionary alphabetically or search for a specific term.

Lectric Law Lexicon
Look up more legal terms alphabetically.

Legal-Explanations.com
Browse an alphabetical list of over 25,000 legal definitions.

Downloadable Samples
Lectric Law Library Legal Forms
This library includes many general legal and business forms, mostly as straight text files.

ALSO SEE:
Our Small Business Resources: Sample Documents section includes sources of many downloadable forms and sample legal documents.

Document Builder
Legaldocs.com
Here you can build several free forms, including a General Contract and Demand for Payment Letter. Other forms are available for a fee.

Copyrights
What is Copyright?
Start with this primer to understanding the basics of copyright law as it applies to any country.

U.S. Copyright Office
U.S. Copyright Circulars
U.S. Copyright Forms
The Copyright Office is the comprehensive bottom line in U.S. copyright information. Download forms and circulars in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center
Stanford University Libraries sponsors this site exploring guidelines concerning copyright and fair use.

Trademarks
USPTO Trademark Info
USPTO Trademark Forms
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office site's trademark section is the bottom line in U.S. trademark information. Forms may be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

USPTO Trademark Search
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office's Trademark Database is a good place to start a trademark search.

UK Trademark Database
The UK Patent Office site is the bottom line in UK patent and trademark info. Online trademark search is available.

Patents
USPTO Patent Info
USPTO Patent Forms
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office site's patent section is the bottom line in U.S. patent information. Forms may be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

International Info
Worldwide Intellectual Property Sites
This page includes links to intellectual property offices in over 30 countries.

World Intellectual Property Organization
WIPO has extensive international intellectual property information, including treaty information and a directory of worldwide offices.