What is Intellectual Property?  < Hands on practise >
Go to www.wto.org 
Select <Trade Topics>
Select <intellectual property>
Select <What are intellectual property rights? >

“Intellectual property rights are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time.” (From WTO website)

Instructors go through the two major types of IP rights as listed on this website: (i) the Copyrights and rights related to Copyrights; and (ii) industrial property.

We are more concerned with copyrights:

According to WTO definition: “The rights of authors of literary and artistic works (such as books and other writings, musical compositions, paintings, sculpture, computer programs and films) are protected by copyright, for a minimum period of 50 years after the death of the author.  Also protected through copyright and related rights are the rights of performers (e.g. actors, singers and musicians), producers of phonograms (sound recordings) and broadcasting organizations. The main social purpose of protection of copyright and related rights is to encourage and reward creative work.”

For the situation in HK, 
Go to the government Intellectual Property Department website: www.info.gov.hk/ipd 
Select <IP Laws and Forms> 
Select < Summaries of IP legislation> and < Guidelines for Photocopying of Printed Works by Not-for-profit Educational Establishments>

Just for a very brief summary, the following are the related laws of HK:
       1. Trade Marks Ordinance Cap. 559 (effective 4 April 2003)
2. Trade Marks Ordinance Cap. 43 (repealed 4 April 2003) 
3. Patents Ordinance Cap. 514 
4. Registered Designs Ordinance Cap. 522 
5. Copyright Ordinance as amended by Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2000 Cap. 528 
6. Copyright (Suspension of Amendments) Ordinance 2001 Cap. 568 
7. Prevention of Copyright Piracy Ordinance Cap. 544 
8. Lay-out Design (Topography) of Integrated Circuits Ordinance Cap. 445 
9. Plant Varieties Protection Ordinance  
There is no need to go into details of these ordinances.

For the photocopying guidelines (issued September 2002), the following are example of some important items –
(1)	Multiple copies of a work may be made by or on behalf of a teacher giving a course.
(2)	Copies made under these Guidelines are for the purpose of distribution to students for teaching, discussion or classroom use. Students may retain the copies for subsequent reference.
(3)	Copies of any work should only be made and used for one course in a not-for-profit educational establishment.
(4)	The number of copies made should not exceed one copy per student in a course.
(5)	There should not be more than 27 instances of copying made for one course in one academic year.

With particular relevance to language arts resources, the Guideline points out that:
     (6) Copies made are subject to the following additional limits: –
     (a) With respect to:
    ‧ articles in periodicals
    ‧ poems (250 words or less); stories or essays (2,500 words or less)
    ‧ artistic works
    ‧ musical works
     not more than 3 works may be copied from the same author for one        
     course in any one academic year. If the above works are contained in 
     a collective work, not more than 9 works (provided that each one of  
     which has to be from a different author) may be copied from the   
     same collective work for one course in any one academic year; and
    (b) In other cases, not more than 3 excerpts may be copied from the   
     same author for one course in any one academic year.

IP and its relation with teaching and learning:

Relate to value and attitude – respecting the rights of author (over their creations)

Respect for others, due process of law, truth, etc. (ref.: English Language Education Curriculum Guide 2002, page 69-73).

Ability to appreciate the creativity of others (ref.: as above) 

The issue about information (useful for teaching and learning) access: IP does not usually relate to information access. We can always get access to information protected by IP rights. It is only that we cannot reproduce them without permission.

(Both teachers and students) pay attention to the following points:
Always be alert to related laws and guidelines. Many old texts can be used freely (as there is limited period of IP rights’ claim)  
For materials on the website, always read related instructions. You will find many of the resources can be used freely.

If the material cannot be reproduced, what will you do?
Read / use it on-the-spot
Quote it (part of it, not the total piece) and give credit to it clearly
Rewrite it for use and give credit to it clearly. This can work for text, but usually not for audio and visual clips. 

Check some websites and see what the “disclaimer” (or similar information on the website) says. 
Judge what you can do and cannot do in terms of reproducing material from a certain website.
Concluding remarks:
-	the meaning of IP rights
-	the Hong Kong situation (law and guidelines)
-	special attention to be paid in relation to IP rights in teaching and learning
-   International Conference on Computer in Education : ICCE2003 (2-5 Dec., 2003) in Hong Kong Convention Centre hosted by Hong Kong this year. < http://www.icce03.org/program.htm > One of the speech: Copyright or Copywrong ;-) 800 teachers will be sponsored to attend …