5 Discussion Questions

Business Law

1.
 
The goal of intellectual property law is to encourage innovation.  Individuals and companies will be far less likely to create new or improved products, services, and works such as movies and albums if others can readily copy and profit from their efforts.
Choose one of the scenarios below and determine which type of intellectual property law applies and whether it would, in fact, provide any remedy.  Remember to identify and explain the elements necessary to claim protection as intellectual property, why you think those elements are or are not present, and what other information you would need to make this determination.

William Writer has developed a great idea for a novel. It will feature a young magician named Henry Pryor who attends a special high school for magicians. Henry has many interesting friends and even searches for the Philosopher’s Rock.
Karen Kitchens is a fantastic cook. Her best dish is fried chicken. Her fried chicken is so good that her friends suggest she start a restaurant. After some thought Karen agrees. She plans to open Kitchen’s Fried Chicken, but because the name is a bit long she decided to shorten it to KFC. Her sign will be red and white and feature an image of Karen’s father, a white-haired old man with a goatee.
Sandy Secretary works for a huge cola company. The company is famous for its secret formula that it has used for over 100 years. One day while looking for something in the boss’s office, Sandy finds a piece of paper that lists the secret formula. Sandy secretly makes a copy of the secret formula and offers to sell it to a competitor.

2.
 
Law is always evolving.  It slowly changes over time in response to its environment.  In business, new types of products, services and practices drive the development of law as it is forced to adapt to situations we can’t even think about today.  A great example is the “gig” economy created by companies such as Uber and Lyft and their “do it yourself” ride service.
What new developments do you think will present the need to rethink and re-evaluate how business law concepts apply today or in the future?

Business Ethics

3.
 
Whistleblowing is when a person exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization that is either private or public. While whistleblowing is the right thing to do it can often come with repercussions to the whistleblower. Provide a response to the following questions:

What moral obligation, beyond the scope of your job, do you have to your employer? Explain your answer.
Depending on how a company reacts, discuss how whistleblowing could affect a company’s future?

4.

Discuss two (2) pros and cons of affirmative action and whether or not you believe it is still needed today. Provide support for your response.
Explain what is meant by wage, gender, and race discrimination in the workplace. Next, propose a plan employers can implement to prevent these forms of discrimination from occurring within the workplace.

5.
 
Companies are expected to act ethically and ensure their employees are also acting ethically. However, as we know the level of ethics expected and those practiced are not always the same. Take a moment to share your thoughts on the following questions about ethics.

Do you believe that ethics can be taught? Why or why not?
If you were the CEO of a company how would you ensure employees operated at a high ethical standard?

Each question needs 4 sentences and does NOT have to be cited!