IP Resources for Educators and Youth

Educators and youth can help reduce the growing prevalence of copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting, in both the online and hard goods environments, by learning about intellectual property (IP) rights and spreading the word that respecting intellectual property rights is in everyone’s interest. There are lots of great materials to get you started.

The State Department has a site that explains what intellectual property is and why respecting intellectual property is important to the U.S. economy. It also shows exciting IP-related public awareness campaigns by U.S. embassies worldwide under “embassies in action.”

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has a Youth Focused webpage that includes interactive games and information targeting children in grades kindergarten-six, seven-twelve, and teacher/parents and coaches. And it’s always a good practice to check the terms of usage when you visit a website. That’s where you will find the site’s policies concerning copyright, reproduction of material and other important information. For example, the USPTO website has its own Terms of Use.

The U.S. Copyright Office has a web learning engine video series to introduce “copyright concepts and the Copyright Office to those who may be new to the topic or who want to learn more” about copyright.

The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) hosts a comprehensive, research-based public awareness campaign against intellectual property (IP) theft.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) produces an e-Learning Center. to educate the public on Intellectual Property. WIPO authorizes users to download, use or reproduce any information presented on its website for educational and dissemination purposes, subject to any specific terms of use that might appear with such information, provided that the use of such information is accompanied by an acknowledgement that WIPO is the source.

The Global Intellectual Property Center, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has supported educational campaigns showing youth how IP is used throughout a kitchen and many interesting documentaries including a campaign alerting consumers to dangerous fakes.

Honor Codes and Intellectual Property

Many U.S. schools and universities have honor codes that increasingly include explicit reference to intellectual property. Educators and students may wish to consider adding intellectual property to their school’s honor code.

The School for Ethical Education (SEE) has an honor policy that is an adapted synthesis of policies from websites or handbooks of twelve high schools; it addresses plagiarism and intellectual property on pages 12-17 of the hyperlinked document.

George Mason University’s honor code includes an explanation of plagiarism, copyright and the internet.

In 2011, the U.S. Air Force Academy added a section on intellectual property rights to its Honor Code - Appendix B (page 19 of the document).

Links for University Students

One of the keys to successfully protecting intellectual property is knowledge about intellectual property – what it is, who owns it, how it is protected, and how it should be protected in various settings. With respect to university settings, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) (Pub. L. No. 110-315) requires schools to take certain steps to implement a copyright policy. Following are links to IP policies in a college setting and a research lab. The papers clearly define roles and responsibilities and establish procedures for defining ownership of IP when that ownership is not immediately clear.

Carnegie Mellon has a good description and an example of implementation of HEOA and of Fair Use.

See a sample IP policy and contract language from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Bowdoin College’s IP policies appear in its faculty handbook, appendix C.

The Online Ethics Center (OEC), which is maintained by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), helps researcher understand their responsibilities with regard to IP.