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Abstract:
Annually, lecturers and students from polytechnic engineering departments invest a lot of intellectual thought, time, resources and energy to produce items they display at provincial agricultural exhibitions and Zimbabwe International Trade Fare (ZITF). At the exhibitions, visitors to their stands, ask questions and take photographs of their products. There are concerns from the lecturers when find unauthorised copies of their products later produced by other manufacturers. Are exhibitions platforms where some people pirate other people's ideas? This study sought to explore lecturers views on securing intellectual property rights for the products they display at exhibitions. The study employed a descriptive survey in which in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaires were used to collect data to elicit the views of lecturers. Twenty (20) purposively sampled engineering lecturers from four randomly sampled polytechnics in Zimbabwe were participants and respondents in the study. The results showed that engineering lecturers do not seek protection of intellectual property rights for the products they show-case at exhibitions. Most of them do not have adequate knowledge of intellectual property rights. Some people could benefit from their ideas and products. The study recommended that lecturers should acquire intellectual property rights for the goods they invent and produce them in large quantities so that they could protect and benefit from their inventions.
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