Branding & Copyright Law with Kids

It was an absolute pleasure to see what all sparked the kids’ interest and their creativity when JDM came to our class to speak about branding our new service learning organization, Root 122.  What I hadn’t counted on was their interest in copyright law…

You can download the minimized presentation from our website to get a feel for how it was supposed to go, but what you won’t see is how they really wanted to know about intellectual property and copyright law.

As Justin discussed what’s in a Brand by showing logos and imagery with no words on them and asked the class (of 5th through 8th graders) what company that Brand represented, not one of them got it wrong.  That’s not too surprising.  The question almost every class interrupted the presentation to ask was:

“What’s that (R) and how is it different from (C) or TM?

Justin was quick to point out his lack of a Juris Doctorate, but fumbled through the fundamental differences.  The questions kept coming and coming — probing deeper and deeper into the nuances of copyright law and intellectual property.

I guess it was just one of those things that kids (and adults) see every day, but never think to ask.

Oh, we ended the presentation with the introduction of a logo competition for Root 122. Interested in how it went? Check it out!  No stealing.  It’s got a “TM”!