E-commerce is a shorthand expression for electronic commerce. It encompasses any sale, license, lease, rental or other transfer of a product, service or property interest, whether tangible or intangible, that is conducted, advertised or facilitated using an online service. It also refers to the conduct of some or all of a business's operations online. It is not a discrete, compartmentalized field of study like contract, tort, intellectual property, business, or constitutional law. It is all of those things-and more. Unfortunately, a book of this size cannot provide in-depth coverage of every aspect of every possible legal topic a business may encounter when it engages in e- commerce. Nor can it take the place of an attorney. What it can and does provide is a means for identifying and understanding the issues that may arise in the course of doing business online.