WK 7 – Business Law (Legal Implications in Executive Decision Making)

Discussion 2: Intellectual Property

In this Discussion, you will analyze issues of employment law related to occupational qualifications.

The following Learning Materials will help you with Discussion 2.

 

Introduction to Business Law (5th ed.)

Chapter 9, “Cyber Law and Privacy”

Chapter 28, “Intellectual Property”

Chapter 9 examines risks to businesses from hackers and cyber activities. The chapter also reviews rotection of consumer, patient, and client information pursuant to federal and state statutes.

Chapter 28 covers trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other forms of intellectual property. Civil and criminal penalties, as well as damages for infringement, can result from violations of intellectual property rights.

 

Post a 250-300 word response to the following Discussion prompt. Ensure that your response answers all parts of the question and is supported by both in-text citations and a reference list.

Alfred invented and patented what we know as “bubble wrap.” The claims in his U.S. patent describe the invention as “a pliable plastic material with regularly spaced, protruding air-filled circular hemispheres used for securing fragile items during transport.”

(1) What requirements did Alfred’s invention have to meet in order to secure a patent?

(2) Now assume Alfred consults you to see if he has a claim against that Ella, a former employee who moved to Mexico, where she makes his exact bubble wrap and sells it to the Mexican market. Can Alfred sue Ella? On what basis?

 

 

NOTE FROM THE PROFESSOR:

1.  There’s no need to reiterate the facts or cut and paste the question. Don’t waste your valuable space and word count.

 

2.  Stay on course. Focus on what the question is asking. Remember to stay on focus. You will certainly have your opinion on the correct conclusion to the case but the application of law usually does not involve politics, opinion, or social policy arguments – especially when its supposed to be 250-300 words.

 

3. Be careful with your citations and sources. I don’t care about the format of the citations, but I do very much care about the sources you use. Please do not use Wikipedia, blogs (especially those written by attorneys or advocacy groups), or popular press. Of course you can refer to those to get a better understanding of the case, but they will not help you, and maybe even hurt you when understanding the law.  Please also use specific page references in both your initial post and in your responses to your classmates’ posts.

 

4. Finally, don’t feel that the burden of the world is on your shoulders with these discussion posts. I am not asking you to uncover every legal issue in the original cases.

 

5. As a general rule, the call of the question has all of the facts that you need to be able to mechanically apply the rule. This is not a case brief exercise. It is an analytical exercise where I am giving you facts and asking you to apply the rule learned this week to come out with a reasoned conclusion. In fact, there is no right or wrong answer, just a right or wrong way of answering the question.