The Honorable Jon W. Dudas and Us
Dennis Forbes of USPTO, Photographer

You know that patents protect intellectual property. Director Dudas of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) explains intellectual property this way. He begins by stating that most kids know what physical property is. Physical property is land or things that you can feel and touch. Then he explains to the children about the things we use everyday and how many of the things we use came from someone using their brain or intellect.  They turned their ideas into things that can be seen or touched or heard.

As director of the USPTO, Mr. Dudas'job is to make sure that the invention that the inventor is trying to patent is the proprietor’s (owner’s) invention, in other words, his or her own intellectual property and not someone else's. 

Some people do not respect other's intellectual property and disobey the laws that are in place to protect the patent holder. It is against the law to copy CDs, movies, or video games without paying for them. It is against the law to copy and sell designer clothing and accessories.  When someone does this, he or she is committing an act of piracy, which is a crime.  It is a crime because it is stealing something from someone without his or her permission. 

Director Dudas uses a video game to make his point about piracy since students are interested in video games and might be illegally copying them. He explains how copying video games, without paying for them, affects America greatly. If everyone copied video games, the creators wouldn’t earn any money, and the people that work for them would lose their jobs.  New video games would not be created because there would be no money or incentive to create them. Kids wouldn't like that at all

Director Dudas believes that people think that it’s okay to copy other people’s property because it is so easy to do so these days.  He says that kids can make a difference by not doing the wrong thing.  Kids have big imaginations, so they probably will be the ones to think of some way to stop piracy in the future.

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