Back to school: with intellectual property in the backpack?
In September, schools and universities open their doors again for a new school or academic year. Going back to school means not only acquiring new knowledge but also students creating new works: by writing, drawing, composing, or coding. These creative works may be protected by intellectual property (IP), such as copyright. Additionally, it is important that students do not infringe the rights of others when creating their works.
Next to the works created by students and teachers, you can find many objects in schools that might be protected by some sort of IP right!
Intellectual Property in Schools
For example, did you know that the eraser on a pencil was once protected by a patent? At the time, this was considered an inventive step. And the colorful lunchboxes with cartoons and game characters are most likely protected by trademarks and/or copyright. The same goes for protected designs of the coolest backpacks.
Plagiarism?
Writing texts and essays requires thorough research. Copyright protects new works, but also the works you draw inspiration from. There is nothing wrong with being inspired, as long as a few rules are followed.
Here are some key points for students, among others, to consider:
- It is very important to refer to the correct sources from where information is taken, whether quoting, paraphrasing or summarizing works. You can cite or refer to the author of the work by using the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) reference or the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) for scientific works. In the case of patented inventions, the patent number can be added to the literature list.
- If parts are quoted, they should not be too extensive. This does not mean that only short quotations are possible (quoting/copying longer pieces from a work or a whole work is possible), but quoting should only be done to the extent justified by the purpose (e.g., teaching, criticism). For example, a discussed painting can be copied (quoted), but you cannot just copy a painting if it has nothing to do with the newly created work. So, it is important that the citation is ‘required’; it is more than just an embellishment of the work.
- More and more digital programs are used within education to check whether third-party works have been copied: another reason to exercise caution here! And here, too, we cannot escape the theme of AI, as texts written by AI are also becoming increasingly detectable. But there is much more to tell about AI and intellectual property. If you want to know more about this, you can read this article.
PowerPoint with images
To make a PowerPoint presentation more engaging, you can add pictures. These pictures are often taken from the internet, but you are not allowed to use them just like that. If you use pictures without the author’s permission, this is copyright infringement.
However, there are specific exceptions within education: photos illustrating education are allowed without having to request permission. PowerPoints made by both students and teachers fall under this exception. However, if it are photos that have nothing to do with the subject, they cannot simply be used. Therefore, in this case, it is best to opt for photos that are offered through PowerPoint itself, are in the public domain, are under a Creative Commons (CC) license, or have been taken by yourself. Using other photos without the author’s permission might be a copyright infringement, even in the context of education!