​What has Intellectual Property got to do with you?

Just over a year ago, a team led by the Dean for University Enterprise (Prof Brian Tanner) and including Abz Dawar, President of Entrepreneurs Durham, was successful in winning a grant from the Intellectual Property Office to raise student awareness of the importance of intellectual property. We used student focus groups we distilled the key topics and messages to go into a 4 minute video. One of these formed part of the Level 3 Biology Enterprise module and the other took place at Entrepreneurs Durham’s “KickStart Weekend” in November, courtesy of Alpesh Mapara, its organiser.
 
It became clear that the topic of Intellectual Property had a lot to do with all students, even if they were not thinking of starting their own business. [Did you know that copyright is automatic on your dissertation?] It also became clear that students were extremely interested in case studies and examples but uninterested in stories of global companies having legal battles with each other. [Did you know that you can trademark a colour?]
 
The video is designed to give you a very brief introduction to trademarks, copyright, patents and design rights. You don’t become an expert by watching the video but in an engaging way, actress Yemisi Oyinloye describes the key rights of authors and inventors with just enough detail for you to want to know more. The aim is to leave residual memories such that students and graduates will think “Is there an Intellectual Property angle here?” when they meet a new professional situation.