Abstract:

The present report aims at finding ways of improving Intellectual Property (IP) Literacy in post-Covid times, characterized by social distancing and distance learning and boom of digital technologies as well. New educational approaches and strategies are discussed for optimizing the process of acquiring “twenty first century” skills and competences in the field of both: industrial property rights and copyright. The main issues and focal points are analyzed in the context of the today’s “new normal” with a vision of tomorrow’s “new future”.

The paper explores the perspectives for cultivating IP literacy in four aspects:
(1) Developing IP literacy as part of the broader process of digital literacy. Having in mind that the current students are “prosumers”/producers and consumers of information/ they need to be digitally fluent in order to be “multidimensional and interactive” participants in a reformed educational process based on new technologies.
(2) Mapping of IP literacy. The chapter explores the impact of visualization tools in training, in particular the creation of maps of IP, constructed in accordance with the specifics of the relevant national legislation and containing the key terms and basic legal theories. The IP maps could serve as real “mind managers” and their contribution as advanced teaching tools has to be re-evaluated.
(3) Building a step-by-step system of tools for evaluation of IP skills and competencies. The evaluating system has to include benchmarks in compliance with the traditional values and adopted academic standards. A properly structured system for evaluation of IP skills would motivate students to develop critical thinking, to experiment and seek innovative ways to apply in practice the acquired IP competences in a digital context.
(4) Strategies for improving IP skills in the “new normal”. The institutional IP policies must take into account the integration of knowledge with an emphasis on interactive methods of communication pursuant to Netiquette. Educational strategies should stimulate development of hybrid teaching practices that guide students in learning about knowledge assembly. They should also motivate students to be mindful consumers and to act ethically as innovative creators.

Keywords:

Digital literacy, IP rights, copyright, new normal.