Business Legal Issues

Business Legal Issues

BUS670 Legal Environment of Business

September 28, 2012

Business Legal Issues

One of the business legal issues which are now coming to light today is Intellectual Property. It is always with us every day with new technologies coming out. Intellectual property law is an interesting part of the ethical and legal area. An in-depth of the legal and ethical aspects of intellectual property will indicate the need for the law. In review is intellectual property of copyright in general. The review of raiding employees and infringements which others violate will be analyzed. The intellectual property of the internet will be analyzed. Finally, suggested corrective actions to issues will be analyzed.

Until the middle of the 20th century, copyright, patent, trademark, and trade-secret law commonly were understood to be analogous but distinct. It also was believed that each field advanced different social and economic goals. Coyle (2001) indicated, “It began early in the twentieth century when the legislature and the U.S. Copyright Office decided that although the copyright law clearly needed updating, the issues were too complex for the legislators to understand” (p. 220). During the second half of the 20th century, however, the lines between these fields became blurred. Increasingly they were considered to be closely related, and eventually they became known collectively as intellectual property law. The tightening of laws governing intellectual property has been paralleled by a steady increase in the economic and cultural importance of intellectual-property rights. Vaver & Hancox (1998) stated, “In any theoretical analysis of the "ownership" of intellectual property, media theorists today are increasingly confronted with the fact that "ownership" is a serious misnomer--and has been from the outset of the intellectual property concept” (p. 282). Other, newer industries have become equally or even more dependent on...