In technology and legal circles intellectual property has been a subject of vigorous and stimulating conversation since the Internet, mp3s and peer to peer file sharing.
Instructions
1. Realize when you are talking about music and print media that the principle issue is copyright. Copyright covers mostly what the name would suggest, the reproduction of covered works in whole or part. Some words to throw around are the doctrine of first sale, plagiarism and bootleg recording.
2. Patent law covers new inventions and is often applied to processes and ways of doing things in addition to physical inventions. Prior art is a popular topic as it can be used to challenge patents.
3. Software and computer games are an interesting area since the actual binaries and source codes are often protected by copyright while the algorithms and methods implemented in the software are often patented. Licensing and end user license agreements are often topics of discussion in this area as is the proprietary versus open source distribution models.
4. Trade secrets are more useful for items like soft drinks where the manufacturing process is often better protected through limiting access to the information rather than registering a protection which becomes a public record. Coca Cola and its long secret recipe are an interesting case in this area.
5. Copyleft, or the protection of the right to freely use information or processes, is an emerging area in intellectual property. The merits of the GNU Public License (GPL) which puts restrictions on commercial derivatives on covered works. Copyleft coverage and forces changes in products generating profits derived from GPL'd work to be open with source code available under the GPL is a subject with a lot of room to grow. Most companies dealing copyleft works derive most their income from providing support and documentation.
Tags: covered works, intellectual property, this area