Situation 2: Trade Secrets The main individuals (stakeholders) that could possibly be affected by this decision would be OpenTech (The company as a whole, as well as employees), CleverTech Inc. (Again, company as a whole as well as employees), and the decision-maker (myself). There are many legal implications and potential risks that arise if CleverTech Inc’s trade secrets are used within any of OpenTech’s products. Many detrimental risks would arise to OpenTech if a connection were to be found. Also, the decision-maker could face many legal risks posed by CleverTech Inc. It should be strongly noted also that CleverTech Inc. did not take the precautions of claiming superimposing intellectual property over their designs. Being that CleverTech’s
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In the case of law, “reasonable efforts” must be taken by the company in order to fully make a strong claim in court if there was dismissal of trust between the company and its relative employee (Evans, 2012). CleverTech did not focus on claiming full intellectual rights over the the designs and ideas; however, with their management consistently reminding employees about the importance of their trade secrets - this may suffice in the court of law that needed precautions were taken. If CleverTech somehow found OpenTech to be using their trade secrets in a design product, CleverTech may be in a fair position to submit a lawsuit against OpenTech (Evans, 2012). This could be highly detrimental to the much smaller company, OpenTech. Likewise, if CleverTech does not win the lawsuit, OpenTech’s decision to use the trade secrets and make them OpenSource and available to all could put CleverTech out of the race to market. Ethically, the obligation lies with the current company you work for - not a potential competitor or inflictor. Even if it seems that no harm could be done by creating an unrelated product using CleverTech’s design, the OpenSource aspect may be detrimental to the company the decision maker pays obligations too. It should also be noted that the decision maker could also be potentially sued in the dismissal of trust established by CleverTech (Martin, …show more content…
The decision maker may gain great benefits from joining OpenTech, but also faces the serious risk being sued by CleverTech if there were to be a connection found between the companies and their respective designs. Also there is an underlying moral obligation that follows the decision maker in which if OpenTech makes CleverTech’s trade secrets fully transparent, CleverTech may suffer greatly in its quest to reach to market. The repercussions from not reaching to market fast enough may put CleverTech, and all of its employees in great risk, even though it may benefit OpenTech greatly. OpenTech also may suffer if CleverTech decides to also attack it with a lawsuit. This could put the small company, including all of the employees/the decision maker, in a great
In the case of law, “reasonable efforts” must be taken by the company in order to fully make a strong claim in court if there was dismissal of trust between the company and its relative employee (Evans, 2012). CleverTech did not focus on claiming full intellectual rights over the the designs and ideas; however, with their management consistently reminding employees about the importance of their trade secrets - this may suffice in the court of law that needed precautions were taken. If CleverTech somehow found OpenTech to be using their trade secrets in a design product, CleverTech may be in a fair position to submit a lawsuit against OpenTech (Evans, 2012). This could be highly detrimental to the much smaller company, OpenTech. Likewise, if CleverTech does not win the lawsuit, OpenTech’s decision to use the trade secrets and make them OpenSource and available to all could put CleverTech out of the race to market. Ethically, the obligation lies with the current company you work for - not a potential competitor or inflictor. Even if it seems that no harm could be done by creating an unrelated product using CleverTech’s design, the OpenSource aspect may be detrimental to the company the decision maker pays obligations too. It should also be noted that the decision maker could also be potentially sued in the dismissal of trust established by CleverTech (Martin, …show more content…
The decision maker may gain great benefits from joining OpenTech, but also faces the serious risk being sued by CleverTech if there were to be a connection found between the companies and their respective designs. Also there is an underlying moral obligation that follows the decision maker in which if OpenTech makes CleverTech’s trade secrets fully transparent, CleverTech may suffer greatly in its quest to reach to market. The repercussions from not reaching to market fast enough may put CleverTech, and all of its employees in great risk, even though it may benefit OpenTech greatly. OpenTech also may suffer if CleverTech decides to also attack it with a lawsuit. This could put the small company, including all of the employees/the decision maker, in a great