Back in May, 2007 a conference took place in Warsaw, Poland – Disseminating IP Knowledge in Universities. The conference initiated for discovering the role of scientists, universities, and research units in spreading of intellectual property knowledge as a fundamental component of modern economy based on knowledge. As my prior post mentions, Poland‘s economy has been growing and this will further the knowledge-based economy. All participants of the conference agreed that application of intellectual property is of main concern because it will: “enable the use of technical knowledge contained in patent description; provide information on the patent law rules; and improve the safety of the rights.” Poland is defiantly on the right track as to the awareness of IP Law within the universities. However, not there needs to be execution!

The participants of the conference further described other points as to why teaching IP Law in universities is crucial. 1. To define the range of subject matter one should take into consideration on the execution of intellectual property rights. 2. Training offered to students, and it does not exclude the idea of giving special training to scientists, researchers and university staff. 3. The period of time, along with the range of the course subject cannot be defined in advance. The university needs to adapt to evolving IP sector regarding their courses. 4. Furthermore, the intention of the course is to create a legal awareness in potential providers of intellectual goods. From the Conference report – “the subjects of the IP course for students, can be, for example: a) the limit to the freedom of creation, b) the rules of quotation, c) plagiarism, d) the novelty of invention in the context of meaning and the rules of disclosing technical secrets, e) the rights of students to creative results obtained during the course of study.”