The Need of the century & the country, IP awareness for school students.

Have you ever wondered, what would it be like to invent something of your own? If yes Would you like it if someone copies it and claims to be the owner of your invention, and on top of that earned money from it too?

The famous American writer Mark Twain once said “A COUNTRY WITHOUT A PATENT AND A GOOD PATENT LAWS IS JUST A CRAB AND CAN’T TRAVEL ANYWAY BUT SIDEWAYS AND BACKWARDS.”

WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs and symbols, names and images used in commerce.
 

Types of intellectual property:

1. Patents

2. Trademarks

3. Copyrights

4. Trade secrets

In today’s world, intellectual property plays an important role. Also, the stated reason for most intellectual property laws is to encourage progress. To give legal ownership of an idea to an inventor is seen as an incentive for those people to make their inventions available to the public. It is designed to secure the full value of work for its creator, to make it into another type of 'real' property.

Advantages of IP:

• Creates and supports high-paying jobs

• drives economic growth and competitiveness

• Strong and enforced intellectual property rights protect consumers and families

• Helps to generate breakthrough solutions to global challenges

• Encourages innovation and rewards enterprises

• Helps generate revenue as well.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS?

There is no age to create your intellectual property. Every time you compose a poem, write an assignment or make a painting or an original sketch, you are creating your intellectual property!
It is important for budding student inventors to understand intellectual property and how to manage intellectual property. This is especially relevant today as we see a growing number of educational programs, workshops, and seminars to encourage entrepreneurship and inventions. The students are getting more encouraged and motivated through these. Side by side they should also be aware of intellectual property and its rights. Intellectual property protects inventions so students must be taught about it.
The UGC which is the University Grant Commission is responsible for determining and regulating the standard of various universities in India issued a letter for the inclusion of IP rights as a subject in school under the CBCS system which is the Choice Based Credit System. But the IP education and awareness are limited to higher education systems and universities only. There’s a dire need for IP education and awareness in school kids. This will inculcate IP education in their minds from an early age and will also foster their creativity. This will also help in sowing innovative and out-of-the-box ideas from a young age.
Recently a National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (NIPAM) under the initiative of the Government’s “Azadi ka Amrit Mahostv” has been launched by Shri Anurag Jain, Secretary DPIIT. The pan India ambitious mission aims to provide awareness of the intellectual property and its rights to 1 million students. It aims to encourage the spirit of creativity and innovation in students of higher education. IPR is an important tool for the IP holder to become a “job giver rather than job seeker”.

PROBLEMS THAT STUDENTS FACE WHO ARE NOT AWARE OF IP

In today’s global world there is an increased focus on research, innovation, and cross-border collaborations, and there is a need to understand the different aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. If students will not be taught dimensional aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, then there is a chance that this will act as a hindrance and will hamper their innovation and creativity. It will also hamper their overall sustainable development. If school kids will not receive foundational aspects of IP rights then they will not understand the basic rights of a creator and how registering IP rights can boost the market growth and business and can provide a competitive edge over the competitors in the market. To curb the menace of counterfeiting and imitation of goods, it is really important to inculcate in the young minds that piracy is an illegal thing and to protect your designs and brands from being counterfeited, it is crucial to grasp the basic aspects of IP rights. Students will only be able to learn these concepts if the knowledge of Intellectual Property Rights will be imparted in their early childhood. That’s why it is important to make IP rights studies to be a part of the academic school curriculum.

How can students become aware of IP?

The main point of discussion is how students should be made aware of this topic. IP awareness should be made a part of the curriculum in schooling. It is possible to teach students about the intellectual property using a variety of methods.

• Storytelling and acting play with the theme of intellectual property in schools

• Story sessions where stories of great inventors and discoveries will be told so that students will get inspired.

• Brainstorming activities like group discussions and debates

• An hour-long interactive session with a presentation delivered by experts should include various games and activities to keep the students engaged. It will be easy if the learning is done in a fun way.

• Lesson plans for 16- to 18-year-olds, on topics like the relevance of IP to future career plans, can help students connect the dots between IP and their dreams for the future.

• Intellectual property should be made a compulsory subject in the education system.


Intellectual property and Economy

1. Intellectual property provides exclusive rights to investors to protect the interests of the creator and encourages investment in research.

2. It also creates a market for that invention so that it could be given to good use and will motivate others to innovate and create.

3. IPR provides exclusive rights to the owner or inventor of the property.

4. The owner can decide the fair value and can sell them to anyone.

5. A healthy and profitable return will encourage the innovator to make new inventions.

6. IPR gives rights and protection to innovators whose competition is alive.

7. IPR also provides a balance in the market which is important for a healthy economy.

8. IPR provides authority to transfer his right to others so that person can authorize anyone to use it in exchange for money.

9. Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights [TRIPS] was introduced in 1994. The private sector started investing in Research and Development.

10. After the introduction of TRIPS, the market started changing and the number of patents filed in India also increased.

Students are the future of the economy, and so is IP equipping the students with IP knowledge, and awareness can ignite the spark of curiosity and help them develop an eye of the observer and once this happens, a revolution is bound to take place, a revolution of ideas, inventions, and innovation. Also, recently India has been ranked 43 out of 55 countries on the International IP Index. It’s a good signal that more and more people are getting aware of the benefits of registering IP assets.