Opening

Thank you, Principal Gibbs. Good morning, everyone!

I’m here representing President Bush and his Administration back in Washington, D.C.

If the President were here today, I know he would say that you are the future of our nation. And he and Mrs. Bush would send their very best wishes for you and your families as you prepare for your future.

I’m so glad to be here with the graduating sixth graders of Legacy Elementary School.

You should be proud!

I know that before you leave Legacy, you’ll want to thank your teachers who have helped you get this far. I’ve heard you have fabulous teachers here, and I bet you have some of your own favorites. We can all thank teachers for the important work they do.

Now, I’m a dad. I have four kids. So I also hope you’ll say thanks to your parents for all they do – because I’m positive they’ll appreciate it.

After you graduate, some of you will move on to Mountain Ridge Junior High, while others will go to American Fork.

But one day, almost all of you will be part of American Fork High School — and I understand that the high school band performed at President Bush’s Inauguration. That’s outstanding!

So, your near future is pretty well figured out. I’d like to talk to you a little bit today about your longer term future and how incredibly important YOU are for the future of the United States.

I also want to talk to you a little about how what you do today can help shape our great nation for tomorrow.

The positive values and lessons you have learned this far in life will guide you through the years ahead -- and help you become responsible leaders in your community and our Nation.

As you look to the future, I hope you will set high goals and try to learn more every day.

You can help strengthen America.

Our nation is facing some challenges right now, but you can help us meet those challenges.

Today, I want to tell you about what I do in Washington -- and how you can make a difference even in what I do.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is important to the future of our nation.

As you grow up, it will become more important.

More and more people from around the world will compete to think of new ideas first.

When I graduated from college, I faced only a handful of competitors. You will have about 70 for each new invention.

New ideas and innovations may range from the latest Super Soaker water gun -- to a cure for cancer.

Looking back in history, people have thought of some of the best ideas when they really used their imaginations.

For example, instead of thinking of a better stagecoach, someone thought of inventing the car; and instead of thinking of a better car, someone else thought of inventing the airplane.

America has been built on this ingenuity.

It is in our Constitution. When it was added there was no dissent, no debate — because it was obvious.

We will not lead the world in low cost labor. Probably not lead for mere improvements. But America has built itself on the strength of our ideas — our ideas will continue to be the basis for growth.

So, if there is one group of people that I would like to glorify, it would not be all-star athletes or famous movie actors. I am certain that the future of our nation will depend upon our inventors, our creators, our engineers, and those who help support and protect innovation in America.

What I do and how it relates to you

My job for President Bush is to help determine who owns these ideas—called intellectual property—and how to help America’s inventors and creators protect their ideas in the United States and throughout the world.

So what exactly is intellectual property?

Well you all know what physical property is—you can touch and feel land or a car

Lots of things we all use every day came from an idea. TVs, computers, books, and music all started with ideas.

When ideas are turned into something -- like a car, a medicine, a video game, or a CD, -- they belong to someone. They are property. And because these things started as ideas in someone’s brain, we call them, “intellectual property.”

So, in the case of a video game on a disc, imagine the difference between the physical property and the intellectual property.

Now, if you own something valuable, you want to protect it, right? Well, that’s why we have patents for phones, computers, bikes, and other things like that.

That is what we do in my office: we issue patents. A patent proves that an inventor owns an invention, and can require others to pay to use that invention for up to 20 years.

I get to sign those patents.

The brand names for products are called trademarks. Names you would know like Coke, Gameboy, or Kleenex.

My Office also registers trademarks.

If you write a song or a book, your property is protected by a copyright.

If you have a patent, it is illegal for anyone to make your product without your permission.

If people use your trademark for their products without asking, they are infringing your trademark.

If people copy your song, book, or performance without your permission, they are infringing your copyright.

Stealing Intellectual Property

Through thinking of good ideas and working hard to sell them, many inventors, business owners, and artists make a living and provide jobs for other people too.

But what happens when someone thinks it’s OK to copy a product, song, or book without the owner’s permission? Because it’s so easy to do these days …

If you create inventions or write stories, how would you feel if someone took your work without your permission, and made it their own?

Well, many people do download music and software everyday from Internet sites that do not have the artists’ or copyright holders’ permission. That is illegal, … and it’s just wrong because a lot of people who put a lot of hard work into making the CD or computer game will not get paid.

Video Game Example

For example, how many of you recognize this game?

That’s right – it’s the Star Wars Jedi Starfighter PlayStation game, which was really popular about 5 years ago.

Now, who knows what this one is?

Yeah – it’s the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the SIth game, which just came out this year.

LucasArts Entertainment , the company that makes these games, uses the money it makes from selling older games to pay people to think of new games.

If everyone went around copying Jedi Starfighter and giving it to all their friends, there would be no money to develop Revenge of the SIth.

Let me take it up a notch to an example that is much more serious. It is not only CDs and movies and video games that are stolen. It is also shoes, razor blades, food, automobile parts and pharmaceuticals. In some nations, anything that can be made can have the idea or brand stolen and sold.

Pharmaceuticals—life-saving drugs—cost more than $800 million dollars on average to develop. Research, testing, trials, safety...

Without IP protection, 2/3 may not exist.

There are other consequences as well.

Someone who bases their career on stealing others ideas is not someone whom you want to trust to put quality ingredients in their products.

EXAMPLES:

• Pharmaceuticals (according to the World Health Organization)—more than 10% of the medicine on the global market is fake, 2/3 have no active ingredients or the wrong amounts.
  
• Lead-based paints and glazes used on low-quality products are health hazards.
  
• Exploding electrical cords with a fake UL listing can cause injuries and fires.
  
• Exploding batteries, dangerous toys, and substandard car parts can cause injury or death.

So, it’s important that we all show respect for others’ property – whether it’s your next-door neighbor or a company that’s far away.

Not stealing someone’s intellectual property may mean developing new attitudes and ideas about property. Many older kids have grown up thinking it’s OK to steal property from the Internet – because they don’t see the people they’re stealing from. Or, because it’s just so easy to make copies on the Internet – they don’t realize that they’re doing something wrong.

But you can change that belief. Because those who cheat and steal are hurting others, and they will make it more difficult for you to protect your own ideas later.

I am certainly not here to lecture you about intellectual property. I am here to congratulate you. But I am also here to a perspective on how you can learn from our mistakes.

I have four kids. My 11-year-old and I talk a lot about purpose in life and about mistakes to avoid.

One of the mistakes of my generation is that we have taken for granted our intellectual property system.

We cannot afford for your generation to make that mistake. Your inventions, Your creations. Your ideas are what will keep America strong.

The good news is that you can make the difference in changing that attitude. You might be the first generation where we can correct those mistakes.

Closing

Please remember to dream big – because America is a place where big dreams come true.

I hope that one day, YOU will be our customers at the United States Patent & Trademark Office – as you apply for patents and trademarks.

I opened by saying that I knew that President Bush would say “you are our future.” I am confident after spending just a little bit of time with you, that I can go back to Washington DC and tell the President that our future is in good hands.