Legal and Ethical Leadership and Management
Aug 5th 2014
BUS 212 Business Law and Corporate Ethics
Professor Jonathan McGovern
Argosy University - Inland Empire
Was it ethical for Normandale to sell the alleged knock-off products at a lower price? Explain.
No it was not ethical for them to sell counterfeit products at a lower price. This gives them an unfair advantage over their competitors and also helps to fuel a 250 Billion a year industry that is being compared to organized crime by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). According to the UNODC counterfeiting can also help to fuel the smuggling of illegal migrants to the United States. Although Normandale may not be directly involved in the smuggling of the migrant workers, there business practice is creating an environment that may harbor this type of illegal activity. With the workers who are brought here to make and sell counterfeit items there working conditions are unregulated. With the labor that is being exploited there is little to no pay as they face security and safety hazards. (UNODC 2014)
What federal or state laws protect owners of intellectual property? How do they apply here? Explain.
Research through the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) shows that the protection for owners of intellectual property is based on their federal patent, there copyright laws, as well as trademark and state trade secret laws. The first line of protection shown is the Patent. A patent is simply a written document issued by the federal government that give all rights of the invention or product as described in the application for the product to its owner of the patent. This will exclude others from manufacturing or using the invention unless the rights to the patent are sold, rented, or mortgaged to them. A patent only last for 20 years and at which time any and all people will be allowed to use, sell or produce the invention. (AIPLA 2014)
The second form of protection offered to the
BUS 212 Business Law and Corporate Ethics
Professor Jonathan McGovern
Argosy University - Inland Empire
Was it ethical for Normandale to sell the alleged knock-off products at a lower price? Explain.
No it was not ethical for them to sell counterfeit products at a lower price. This gives them an unfair advantage over their competitors and also helps to fuel a 250 Billion a year industry that is being compared to organized crime by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). According to the UNODC counterfeiting can also help to fuel the smuggling of illegal migrants to the United States. Although Normandale may not be directly involved in the smuggling of the migrant workers, there business practice is creating an environment that may harbor this type of illegal activity. With the workers who are brought here to make and sell counterfeit items there working conditions are unregulated. With the labor that is being exploited there is little to no pay as they face security and safety hazards. (UNODC 2014)
What federal or state laws protect owners of intellectual property? How do they apply here? Explain.
Research through the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) shows that the protection for owners of intellectual property is based on their federal patent, there copyright laws, as well as trademark and state trade secret laws. The first line of protection shown is the Patent. A patent is simply a written document issued by the federal government that give all rights of the invention or product as described in the application for the product to its owner of the patent. This will exclude others from manufacturing or using the invention unless the rights to the patent are sold, rented, or mortgaged to them. A patent only last for 20 years and at which time any and all people will be allowed to use, sell or produce the invention. (AIPLA 2014)
The second form of protection offered to the