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Law Project

What's the Real Deal?
Grade Level: ALL GRADE LEVELS, K-4, Middle and High School
Curriculum Connections:Language Arts, Math, Economics

Required Software:Microsoft® Word, Microsoft® PowerPoint, Microsoft® Internet Explorer, Microsoft® Publisher
Summary:
In today's global marketplace, intellectual property is a hot commodity --- and a concept sometimes lost on consumers of all ages. As a result, thieves of intellectual property (also known as "pirates") counterfeit a dizzying array of merchandise, from software to toys to sneakers. As consumers, your students need to understand what intellectual property is and how to safeguard themselves against fakes. This project provides a fun, kid-sized introduction to these concepts.

Real Deal
Counterfeiting affects a wide array of fields your students care about

Objectives:
To understand the concept of intellectual property and identify ways to overcome piracy and counterfeiting.

Prerequisite Skills:
Basic computer skills and research skills using library and Internet resources.

How to Begin

  1. Ask yourself: Should someone be able to "own" an idea? Is it, yes or no. Then pose the question this way: What if the idea took the form of an invention? A song? A design? What rights should the person have who came up with the idea? What protections should there be for the original idea?
  2. Introduce the concept of intellectual property in an age-appropriate way:
    • Use the dictionary, library resources, and the Internet to develop a working definition of intellectual property, with examples of what it is and how it's protected in key fields such as fashion and technology.
    • Who "invented" your favorite toy, cartoon, or song. Have them use the library and the Internet to explore how their favorites came to be --- and what keeps them unique.
  3. Next, go online to one of the Web sites listed on the Student Activity page. While you're reading through the warnings about counterfeiting, pose these questions: What's so bad about this kind of copying? Who cares whether what you buy is the real thing or a fake?
  4. Develop a list of fields that particularly attract counterfeiters (also known as pirates) and where those pirates might sell their wares.

 

Student Activity
Description:

Is that CD you're spinning "the real deal?" How about bean-bag toy you just added to your collection or that designer shirt you're wearing? There's a booming market in stolen ideas and illegal copies these days. To be a smart shopper, you need to be aware of counterfeits, knock-offs, and fakes ---not to mention the modern-day "pirates" who create them! With this class project, you'll investigate just how big a problem counterfeiting really is, why you should care, and how to fight back.

Step A
Find the Fakes
What to do: Piracy takes many different forms in different fields. In this step, your team will explore the problem in one particular field.


Real Deal
Present the facts you discover about "piracy" in your field of focus.

  1. Choose a field of focus, such as music, toys, publishing, or software. Examine the examples of counterfeiting you might have personally encountered. Did anyone ever copy a favorite software program for you? Ever see Chicago Bulls jerseys so cheap you just knew they must be fake? Make a list of the many ways pirates might work in your field of focus.
  2. Now go to the library and to the Internet to track down news reports and statistics about counterfeiting in your field (see "Real-Deal Web Sites" below for leads). In particular, look for information about:
    • The volume of fake merchandise produced.
    • Where and when these fakes are most likely to be sold (such as online, on the street, or through stores).
    • The financial impact on consumers, the industry, and the economy as a whole.
    • Common types of piracy in this field and how to spot them.
    • Problems that piracy causes for end-users (such as inflated prices or merchandise that doesn't work right).
    • How piracy affects the original creators --- musicians, software developers, game designers, and so on.
    • Law enforcement action against fakes. Keep a list of your facts to use in the following steps.


REAL-DEAL WEB SITES

Microsoft "Be Sure It's Legal" Protection Against Software Piracy
Beanie Babies

Step B
Reality Check
What to do: Translate what you've learned about counterfeiting into a fact sheet alerting other kids to the problem.

  1. Analyze your various research results from Step 1. Which aspects of piracy in your field will seem most important to people your age?
  2. Create a fact sheet with Microsoft Word to collect your most compelling facts. Rephrase your points in language your peers will pay attention to, and add graphics for impact.
  3. Share your fact sheet either by printing or by creating a presentation.
Real Deal

Plan a campaign against piracy in your own field of focus.

Step C
Fighting the Good Fight
What to do: Build on your work in Step 2 to develop a campaign against piracy in your field and others. Here are some ideas you might want to try:
  1. Create a Top 10 list, David Letterman-style. For example, you might want to tackle "Top 10 Signs You've Got Bootleg Software" or "Top 10 Ways a Pirated Video Can Ruin Your Evening." (Remember, even though the subject is serious, your Top 10 list should be funny, because the most important points can sometimes be made through humor.) With the help of your classroom computer, turn your Top 10 list into a paper handout or a powerpoint.
  2. Develop a slogan that captures your anti-piracy message in one easy-to-remember phrase. You should brainstorm several slogans and then pick a favorite.
  3. Create anti-piracy reminders that your class-mates will see every time they use their computers by turning your slogan into "wallpaper" or a screen saver. To do this, use Microsoft Publisher or Microsoft PowerPoint to create a catchy layout with your slogan and some art, then use the PrintScreen or "screen snapshot" function on your computer to "take a picture" of your computer screen. You can then import this picture into a graphics accessory such as Paint and save it as a bitmap, which can then become wallpaper or a screen saver.
  4. Wrap up by thinking of some "big ideas" for getting your anti-piracy message across. Imagine that you have a million-dollar budget. What high-impact ideas might your group have for reaching young people with an anti-piracy message? Would you create a TV ad campaign, build a school Web site, launch a blimp, run a contest? Decide together on your three best ideas, and create a PowerPoint presentation that explains each idea. Explain your strategy and include mock-ups of slogans and art. Then present your campaign to the teacher.

Real Deal

Step D - For Cross Curriculum Studies
Setting the Stage for the Real Deal
What to do: Now your challenge is to take your anti-piracy message to the world outside your school in a way that parents, neighbors, and local business people can really understand. A play's the thing!

Real Deal
The publicity committee can use Microsoft Publisher to spread the word about your anti-piracy plays. Make banners to hang in the hallways, then create invitations, a playbill, and more!
  1. Bring your small groups together as a class. Have each group summarize the highlights of what it discovered in Steps 1 - 3, and how group members feel about what they learned about piracy in their chosen field. What's the one thing they would most want the general public to know about this topic?
  2. Next, each group should make up a five-minute skit dramatizing the problem of piracy in its particular field. To keep the skits fresh and fun, try an approach like one of the following:
    • Show the perils of counterfeiting from the point of view of a product: What if you were a real Beanie Baby that someone was trying to make illegal copies of? How might you play if you were a pirated computer game?
    • Make up a super-heroine (or hero) character called The Piracy Buster, and dramatize this character's exploits in fighting fakes. Create list of smart tips for consumers to guard against counterfeit merchandise --- and then present it as a rapping rhyme.
    • Be sure to credit any music "samples" you use!
    • Take your audience on a tour of a "pirate's den" showing how knock-offs are produced (and what dangers they pose for consumers).
    • Use the form of an animal fable --- like those of Aesop --- to explain why "making a copy for a friend" can also be a form of piracy.
  3. Your group should show the class a "rough cut" of your skit, and ask for feedback on how to improve or clarify it.
  4. Each group should designate a member to the publicity committee to set a date or dates for the performance and start getting the word out to families and the community.
  5. Each group should also designate one member to be part of a production team to write an introduction to the series of skits, arrange the order in which the skits are presented, plan for any needed scenery or props, and set a rehearsal schedule leading up to opening night.
  6. When the big debut comes, break a leg! (That means "good luck" in theater lingo.) You'll already be doing your part to break the piracy trend.