A few weeks ago I blogged about the various events that were held around town in conjunction with World IP Day on April 26. At one of the events, there was talk about how to put an end to a culture of piracy among young people. The USPTO showcased their InventNow educational campaign, created in conjunction with the Ad Council and the National Inventors Hall of Fame, to educate kids early on the process of coming up with cool ideas and then protecting them. At the time I questioned what we’re going to do about the segment of young people for whom Internet piracy—particularly of music, movies, and games—has always been a reality with little consequences. Are we going to write them off as hopeless in this regard? What tactic or messaging would really get through to someone who is currently in the 12-24(ish) range?
Our pals at the Copyright Alliance recently launched an educational foundation, the aim of which is to educate teachers and librarians about copyright and how to pass that knowledge to their students. Their lesson plans are specialized for every grade level, and involve a teach-the-teacher aspect. CA has plans for a more broad distribution this fall. There are also plans for specific outreach to student s engaged in the arts—music, photography, writing, etc.—to explain how copyright affects them and their works.
I love these approaches to teaching kids about intellectual property, especially since parents too often find themselves on the other side of the technology gap from their kids. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t have the slightest idea of Susie is illegally downloading music or movies (until they’re hit with the lawsuit for it, that is). Getting kids to understand ownership of ideas and the rights associated with them early on will help prevent the abuse of those rights later. (Especially since we know that trying to scare the heck out of them didn’t work.)
All of these elements—InventNow, CA’s educational foundation, and our Innovators Network—work together and complement one another over a period of years in a person’s life to help them understand, appreciate, and maybe even build a business around intellectual property. It’s great to be in such fine company and working toward this goal.
Update: A friend also brought this to my attention–sites that teach young/junior "marketing folks" about copyright, fair use, etc.