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Skills

Understand Intellectual Property for Software

6 weeks · 2 milestones

Introduction to Intellectual Property (WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization)), then one project of your own. Part of the Varsity Curriculum: Computer Science.

Milestone map

Milestone map

2 milestones

Do the course work in public

2–4 weeks (2 hrs/week)

Take Introduction to Intellectual Property for free and do a licence audit of one of your projects (every dependency and its licence). Keep everything in one public repo or notebook as you go. OSSU lists a Coursera course. We use WIPO's free guides.

Proof required

Link your public repo or notebook with a licence audit of one of your projects (every dependency and its licence), and a screenshot or log showing the self-check passed.

What gets checked

  • Every dependency is listed.
  • Licences are correct.
  • Conflicts are flagged.

Common mistakes

  • Copying posted answers: verifiers read the history.
  • Skipping the self-check, then asking for review too early.

Powstik Guide

A public repo or notebook with a licence audit of one of your projects (every dependency and its licence).

Steps

  1. Make a public repo or notebook first.
  2. Do one unit at a time and commit after each.
  3. Run the self-check: Write one line each on copyright, patents, trademarks and trade secrets, then check against WIPO.
  4. Write a short README: what is here and how to run it.
  5. Ask three people who know the topic to check it.

Template

README
Course: Introduction to Intellectual Property (WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization))
What is here:
How to run it:
Self-check result:
What was hardest:

What gets sent back

  • No history, just one big upload.
  • Self-check not shown.
  • Code that does not run from the README.

Resources

Foundationstart here

Depthgo deeper

What a verifier looks for

  • Every dependency is listed.
  • Licences are correct.
  • Conflicts are flagged.
  • Ask one question about a choice in the code; the answer should be clear.

You'll sign in first, then come straight back here.

License your project properly

1–3 weeks (5–8 hrs/week)

Use what you learned. Make a chosen licence, a NOTICE file and a short note on why, added to your project. Keep it small enough to finish in about two weeks.

Proof required

Link a chosen licence, a NOTICE file and a short note on why, added to your project, with a README that says how to run or read it.

What gets checked

  • The licence fits the dependencies.
  • Credits are complete.
  • The reasoning is clear.

Common mistakes

  • A project too big to finish.
  • A demo that only works on your machine.

Powstik Guide

A chosen licence, a NOTICE file and a short note on why, added to your project.

Steps

  1. Write one line: what it does and for whom.
  2. Build the smallest version that works.
  3. Test it on someone else's machine or with someone else reading it.
  4. Write the README.
  5. Ask three people to check it.

Template

README
What it does:
Who it is for:
How to run it:
What I would do next:

What gets sent back

  • Does not run from the README.
  • Not clearly the person's own work.
  • Claims more than it does.

Resources

Foundationstart here

Depthgo deeper

What a verifier looks for

  • The licence fits the dependencies.
  • Credits are complete.
  • The reasoning is clear.
  • Check that the work is the person's own.

You'll sign in first, then come straight back here.

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