Be HIP and Honor Intellectual Property

 HOME-GROWN ARTISTE MICHELLE CHONG JOINS FORCES WITH IPOS TO HELP KIDS UNDERSTAND AND HONOR IP

While teachers can create an awareness of copyright and Intellectual Property (IP) in the classroom, it often takes an exciting and interactive initiative to bring the message home.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has created this needed exciting message in the shape of a short and interactive performance that they take to primary schools to enforce the movement in respecting IP.

Bubbamama was invited along to IPOS’s recent expedition at Anglo-Chinese School (junior).

Throughout the 30-minute engaging and entertaining performance, the characters re-enacted and successfully solved various copyright-related dilemmas that are frequently encountered by primary school children in their daily lives.

Helping to get the IP message out to the audience was Singapore’s very own Michelle Chong who made a special guest appearance.

A recap of what primary students learned from this IP Expedition Special:-

What is Intellectual Property (IP)?
Intellectual Property (IP) is any creative work (story, image, music, movie, etc), it belongs to the person who created it and is held under copyright laws.

Copyright means ‘I have the right to copy it, right’?
Wrong! Copyright laws are to protect the creator and their work. Imagine if you (a primary school student) had worked hard on your project or exhibition work only to see that exact work in your classmate’s file. You would feel very upset and perhaps a little angry when he receives credit and excellent grades from his teachers.

Copyright mistakes and how IP is NOT respected in everyday life?
You find chunks of information that you want to use in your school assignment, you are be tempted to simply cut and paste it or take screen shots of images and use this as your own work. Everything written on the internet as well as printed on paper is subject to the copyright laws.

It’s not only at school where the copyright laws are broken.  Watching the latest blockbuster movies in the comfort of your own home by using free downloads is, again, tempting. We forget that a percentage of our paying for the movie ticket or purchasing the DVD is the reward that the creator gets for their effort, skills and resources that are put into the making of these copyright movies.

The necessity to honour IP is important, why?

Works that are ‘audience worthy’, can take lots of hard work, weeks, months or years to complete.  Imagine how disheartening it would be to see your work copied and available for everyone without you receiving any recognition or compensation for your hard work.

Ms Michelle Chong, local artiste, actress, host and film producer, told us “When others support and honour our IP, creators and artistes like me are inspired to create and perform new works. This in turn keeps our local arts and entertainment industry innovative, vibrant and exciting.”

The Intellectual Property (IP) Expedition programme is organized by the Honour Intellectual Property Alliance (HIP Alliance), the flagship public outreach initiative by Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). Since it’s launch in July 2013, their easy to understand ‘skit’ has been performed at more than 30 primary schools, reaching out to more than 32,000 students. To date, 45 more schools have signed up to be part of this year’s IP educational journey.

For more information about IP Expedition, HIP Alliance and its initiatives, please visit:-
HIP facebook.com  and hipalliance.com or ipos.gov.sg