The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has released its second “Children’s Guide” to copyright. The title is Learn From the Past, Create the Future.
The book is appropriate for a student reading at the nine to twelve year old reading level. There are good examples of what is and what is not protected by copyright, how copyright works, how long it lasts and how copyright is managed.
The document also explains plagiarism, piracy and other forms of copyright infringement. There are sections that explain how different technologies (like P2P) can be used to violate copyright law.
One nice section is the eight pages explaining public domain and the limitations of copyright. There are lists of resources for free music, photos, movies and literature available in the public domain. There is also a paragraph that mentions Creative Commons.
There are also games throughout the 72 page document so your little ones can play along as they read about copyright. Here is a good activity to get them started.
The document is available in the “free publications” section of the web site. The second page of the document says “copyright WIPO 2007”. Does this mean you can’t print the document for your students without permission from WIPO?
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