Ethics and Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is “intangible property, the product of human ingenuity, protected by law” (Lau & Johnson, 2015). Intellectual property includes things such as ideas, a title, a patent, or a trademark. There have been many court cases documented on the issue of intellectual property along with some ethical concerns that accompany. Some familiar cases are the Kellogg Cereal Shredded Whole Wheat cereal idea, the debate of who is rightfully the father of calculus, and the rights to music. Who owns an idea?
Consequently, the owner of an idea would be the person that came up with or invented a product, or is it the first person to deem it as intellectual property by seeking a patent or a copyright for the invention. …show more content…
Ethical issues that can arise within the business world are infringement, and fair competition. If a company has a patent or a copyright enforced on their signature logo such as Adidas with the three stripes that are featured on the sneakers; other companies should refrain from infringing upon the protections that Adidas has on their brand, or utilizing something that the company with the copyright identifies as their …show more content…
Payless Shoesource should not have been utilizing Adidas’ trademark stripes. If for some reason Payless sold some of the striped shoes and a consumer; seeing the stripes automatically associated those Payless shoes with the Adidas brand, and the shoes ended up being poor quality this could end up tarnishing the Adidas brand name that they have built. Under the copyright clause Adidas’ intellectual property was rightfully protected.
How can Intellectual Property be Protected Accordingly, protecting intellectual property should begin with enforcing the laws that are in place. Owners of intellectual property should take the necessary precautions to ensure their intellectual property is protected. Therefore, company’s should keep private information safe, employees and stockholders should be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement to make sure they are aware of the consequences of a disclosure. Intellectual property can be safeguarded through company policies and through due diligence of each employee. Ensure secrets are kept and safeguard measures are in place. Intellectual property owners also need to ensure that their intellectual property is registered properly, so it is identifiable as theirs. Intellectual property ownership should be documented in the event that you feel that someone is taking your idea as their
Intellectual property is “intangible property, the product of human ingenuity, protected by law” (Lau & Johnson, 2015). Intellectual property includes things such as ideas, a title, a patent, or a trademark. There have been many court cases documented on the issue of intellectual property along with some ethical concerns that accompany. Some familiar cases are the Kellogg Cereal Shredded Whole Wheat cereal idea, the debate of who is rightfully the father of calculus, and the rights to music. Who owns an idea?
Consequently, the owner of an idea would be the person that came up with or invented a product, or is it the first person to deem it as intellectual property by seeking a patent or a copyright for the invention. …show more content…
Ethical issues that can arise within the business world are infringement, and fair competition. If a company has a patent or a copyright enforced on their signature logo such as Adidas with the three stripes that are featured on the sneakers; other companies should refrain from infringing upon the protections that Adidas has on their brand, or utilizing something that the company with the copyright identifies as their …show more content…
Payless Shoesource should not have been utilizing Adidas’ trademark stripes. If for some reason Payless sold some of the striped shoes and a consumer; seeing the stripes automatically associated those Payless shoes with the Adidas brand, and the shoes ended up being poor quality this could end up tarnishing the Adidas brand name that they have built. Under the copyright clause Adidas’ intellectual property was rightfully protected.
How can Intellectual Property be Protected Accordingly, protecting intellectual property should begin with enforcing the laws that are in place. Owners of intellectual property should take the necessary precautions to ensure their intellectual property is protected. Therefore, company’s should keep private information safe, employees and stockholders should be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement to make sure they are aware of the consequences of a disclosure. Intellectual property can be safeguarded through company policies and through due diligence of each employee. Ensure secrets are kept and safeguard measures are in place. Intellectual property owners also need to ensure that their intellectual property is registered properly, so it is identifiable as theirs. Intellectual property ownership should be documented in the event that you feel that someone is taking your idea as their