Director of PETOŠEVIĆ Croatia Office Explains IP to Zagreb’s Little Ones

The director of our office in Croatia, Anamarija Stancic Petrovic, gave a presentation last week to an unlikely audience of six year olds.

A local kindergarten in Zagreb invited Anamarija to explain intellectual property in a fun and simple way to their little ones. The talk was part of a campaign to raise public awareness about intellectual property in Croatia.

“It was definitely difficult to prepare a presentation for five and six year olds that would be interesting, short, playful and interactive. The presentation had a few slides with different aspects of IP such as: patents, inventions, trademarks, design and copyright,” explained Anamarija.

The first slide illustrated concrete inventions and introduced famous inventors like Slavoljub Penkala and Nikola Tesla, and then the kids named other inventions they know from everyday life.

“The second slide presented brands like Nike, Barbie, McDonald’s, Hello Kittie, Volvo, Toyota, Kraš, etc. I was pleasantly surprised how children at that age recognize the brands and the specific products these brands represent,” stated Anamarija.

The third slide defined industrial design with pictures of cars, furniture, fashion, etc. The last slide illustrated the concept of copyright by using different cartoon characters and explaining who their authors are and why is copying others’ work unlawful in the same way as stealing.

“After the 20-minute presentation about intellectual property, I divided the kids into smaller groups and we had a creative IP workshop. One group had to come up with an original invention. Another had to come up with a logo for the invention that the others were making,” said Anamarija.     

The kids were delighted after the presentation because it was the first time anyone had presented something to them on a big screen, which made the whole event even more appealing.

Anamarija received positive feedback from the kindergarten’s pedagogue and realized how important it is to introduce children with the idea of intellectual property at an early age, especially nowadays when they are exposed to so much information and easily adopt knowledge.

For more information, please contact Anamarija Stancic Petrovic in our Croatia office.