By: Lauren Monteith, Derek Love, Cole Howell, and Reggie Jones

 Intellectual Property is the original work people make like songs, movies, books, poetry, art, and software.  Intellectual Property is divided into two categories: Industrial Property & Copyright  Industrial Property is the protection of a invention like a new hardware or device.  When you buy a CD or DVD, you do not gain ownership of that product.

COPYLEFTCOPYRIGHT  Copyleft is similar to copyright in terms of the protection of a person’s work, but copyleft is the protection of computer software and other electronic software.  Copyright is designed to prevent people from simply taking or copying someone else's creation without their permission.  Copyright is the owners’ exclusive right to control, publish, and sell his/hers work or ideas.

 The internet has made it easy for people to copy and distribute intellectual property without any interference.  The internet is a major battleground for intellectual property rights.  For example, people download music off the internet without paying, from music sharing sites like Limewire and Napster.

 Napster, a music sharing site, began allowing free downloads of music. People could just simply download music and share it to others without any restrictions.  Artists, record companies, and many songwriters filed a lawsuit against Napster for copyright infringement and violation of copyright.  Napster lost the lawsuit and was forced to pay damages and eventually had to shut down.

 Piracy is the illegal downloading of software and files that are protected under copyright laws.  You can be put in jail or fined a large sum of money if you are caught doing piracy.  Piracy threatens trademark, which is a symbol used to identify a particular product.

 Trademark is a symbol, logo, or a name of a product.  It identifies what the product is and it is protected by copyright laws.  Patent is a grant of property rights given to the inventor.  There are three types of patents: utility patent, design patent, and plant patent.  Patent exclude anyone from stealing that person’s property.

 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a law that was passed in 1998 by Congress that makes it illegal to make software that bypasses computer codes that protect copyrighted material.  These laws protect artist, writers, and inventors from copyright infringement.

 Cole: I would be mad if my intellectual property was being distributed without being purchased.  Lauren: I would be upset because I would be losing money.  Reggie: I would be upset because all the effort I put into the product is being wasted.  Derek: I would get angry and sue the people who distributed my product without paying for it.

 module1/page3.htm module1/page3.htm   Civics Today. Student ed. New York, New York: Richard C. Remy, Print.  gWI/R_ttqNYMVHI/AAAAAAAAA48/V1QHNCgd3 bs/s400/NIKE.jpg gWI/R_ttqNYMVHI/AAAAAAAAA48/V1QHNCgd3 bs/s400/NIKE.jpg   atent atent  Video videos/module_1_broadband.html videos/module_1_broadband.html