Both the Copyright Office and Patent Office have sites that can give you the 101. http://www.copyright.gov/ http://www.copyright.gov/ http://www.uspto.gov/ htt

Both the Copyright Office and Patent Office have sites that can give you the 101. http://www.copyright.gov/ http://www.copyright.gov/ http://www.uspto.gov/ http://www.uspto.gov/ If you are ever thinking of living in the U.S., especially in NYC, then there's a whole set of laws you should understand regarding the rights of tenants, if you rent: http://www.tenant.net/ http://www.tenant.net/ Note that NYC tenant law is not transferable to other cities. The laws exist as they do due to several distortions, both by gov't and the market.