Intellectual Property Laws
Intellectual property refers to property that is made out of mental labor. It includes copyright patent, trademark, industrial design mark, and trade jurisdiction is some jurisdiction. Examples of goods that can be categorized as intellectual property are literature, cover music and other artistic works that can be considered as discoveries and inventions and symbols, phrases words and design. All in all, patents protect tangible things’ design, copyright protects the different forms of artistic and written designs and trademark symbols or names that identify the source of a product or service (Stim, 2005).
Managers are facing several ethical problems at the workplace with their employees. Such ethical misconduct may include unfair pricing and social injustices among employees for their own personal gain. Stable strategies such as controlling, planning, coordinating and communicating at the workplace it will help to solve these problems.in an organization. For instance, proper ethical conduct between workers the management and the customer gives the firm a positive response regarding its production output at the end of the period. Thus is seen when clients are satisfied with the services offered to them by the supplying company to s satisfy their tastes and preferences (Rabinowitz 2015).
Business Ethics for Intellectual Property
It is unethical for Normandale to sell the product at a lower price. Normandale, at first, sells Mathis Inc product which they obtain at a high price and cannot make enough profit. However, it is evident that the clothing is in demand despite the business cost that Normandale has to incur. The high demand could be resulting from the quality of Mathis Inc production, in essence, keeping the customers demanding more. As a result, Normandale finds an alternative way to acquire the product at a lower price.
Resultantly they sell the products at a lower price to keep the customer demanding and to enable them always to be in business. However, in the sale of the product at a lower price they are mostly pushing Mathis out of business since the most customers always go for the cheaper products. It is unethical because Mathis, in the first place, are the inventors of the product. They spend money to acquire the raw materials and to pay their worker who designs and make the artistic product. Selling the products at a low price puts all the original owners of the product out of business. It is also unethical because they compromise with the quality of the product.
Intellectual property law is a term given to a collection of legislation that protects art, films, photography, drawings, paintings music among others. They include trademark, copyright and patents laws. Copyright applies to original creative works, which include movies, architecture, music, drawings, paintings, photos, dance etcetera. For something to qualify as copyright protection, it must meet a particular requirement. There is also variation in length of protection depending on the time it was first created. Brand names, logos, slogans, labels; the ones on Mathis products photos and other features that can identify the origin of a product or service are protected by the federal and state trademark laws.
Trademark laws, unlike copyright, receives protection depending on various variables, they include consumer awareness, type of product or service identified and the geographic area. Countess Lori Ann has broken both of the laws by producing clothing, using Mathis Inc designs knowingly since they have labels. (Rocket Lawyer, 2016)
Harm suffered by Mathis Inc
Mathis Inc has suffered from Countess Lori Ann’ actions to produce counterfeit products using their design, and Normandale’s move to sell the product. This fact is because Mathis Inc cannot enjoy the freedom they had in pricing their products since their competitor in producing products that look similar at a lower price. Mathis Inc risks losing most of their retailers who would go for the cheaper option. In addition to that, it also risks losing their customers to Countess Lori Ann, who are their direct competitors. Another damage is that the credibility of the Corporation’s products quality will be questioned since Normandale is selling clothing that resembles Mathis yet they are of lower quality.
The ethical code could Normandale implement to prevent similar incidence in the future
The moral code that Normandale could use to avoid this occurrence in the future is by doing his own business and using a different logo in the production of the product. To get more returns, he can also produce products that relatively vary in a fashion contrary to the one Miths is producing. For instance, making fashionable and trending handbags boost services for his customers. Also, he can make these products more attractive to the buyers by using a different kind of material packaging and different color blends at a lower in price to get profits at the end.
Normandale personal liability to Mathis for damages
The owners of Normandale have a personal responsibility to Mathis as they were using their images for their personal gain behind the knowledge of the Mathis. In law, this is considered as a breach of contract on the manufacturing company and very unethical as they will not be held responsible for damages should an incidence like poor quality production erupts in the premise. These damages are intense to Mathis company as the [purchase of their goods might reduce shortly making them loose customers.
The effect on this arises as Normandale will be producing the same items at lower prices compared to the original owners in return making losses. In creating their enterprise competitor led to incompetence with the manufacturing Mathis as their federal law and rights were violated.It is punishable by the law as it an informal social character that weakens the operations of the dominating company creating a negative image on it.in turn to solve this problem.Collaboration with Miths to form a partnership in producing identical ladies wear items under one integrated company that is operating as one organ and branding it a name ‘Mithsmandale’ to provide ladies fashion wear and modern handbags that match the clothes and profits shared equally.
Normandale’s personal criminal liability and that of the business
With regards to this case study, Namandale has a personal criminal responsibility as they misconducted themselves in using counterfeit samples to make their products for sale without the consent of the owner in making same products at a lower price and bearing their business tag. It is unethical as all liabilities will be with the Mathis in the long-term.
The differing views on the social responsibility of corporations like Normandale
On social responsibility, the deferring duty may include operating in a corrupt environment practicing unlawful for their personal gains this individualism can cause a lot of damage not only to the company but also the society as a whole as it will be hard for them to identify the original owner of the products they are buying. Respecting and maintaining customers’ rights as they are obligated to meet the mandate of the client needs as per their preferences and tastes.
It enhances good relations and maintaining higher productivity regarding sales returns. Corporate responsibility practiced by Normandale was to connect their personal well-being to their customers by committing themselves to the same production under different levels and taking more risks in carrying out the business. By maintaining the same buyers, Namandale were determined to have other investments cater to increase their performance and a greater competitive advantage (Frey 2008).
Conclusion
In conclusion, for the managers to solve these unethical issues, over government should intervene to enact laws that will protect buyers such as Consumer Protection Act to avoid misappropriation of a company’ goods and to mislead them in purchasing a product with low quality. When there is a conflict of interest, between two companies they can collaborate to produce one product for supply thereby sharing all the costs in its distribution and profits equally regarding stocks leading to transparency and building more trust in the organizations.
References
Frey, W. and Cruz-Cruz, J. Three views of Corporate Social Responsibility. Three Views of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Retrieved from https://cnx.org/contents/PIEfktl5@6/Three-Views-of-CSR-Corporate-Social Responsibility.2008
Rabinowitz P. Ethical Leadership. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of- contents/leadership/leadership-ideas/ethical-leadership/main
Rocket Lawyer. (2016). What Are Some Examples of the Types of Intellectual Property? Retrieved from
https://www.rocketlawyer.com/article/intellectual-property-examples-types-ps.rl
Stim, R. (2005). Overview of Intellectual Property Laws. Fairuse.stanford.edu: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/introduction/intellectual-property-laws/#sthash. mzqyEt86.dpuf
