Online Intellectual Property Should Be Child's Play

This article first appeared in Education Technology.

UK schoolchildren are nowadays born 'digital natives'; they've never known a world without the internet, smart phones and tablets. Most of what is consumed these days is in digital format and children assimilate the information they obtain quickly and instinctively. However, ask your average school child what intellectual property (IP) is or for their thoughts on copyright and trade mark ownership, and you might not get much of a response.

As their entertainment, information and social lives become digitised, it has never been more important for us to teach our children the meaning and importance of IP and something of the laws of ownership. In order to maintain the UK's position as a world-leading digital economy and to realise the government's ambitious digital strategy, it is vital that children not only understand how to protect their unique creations but also that they appreciate the often delicate balance