Free Essay

Legal and Ethical Environment of Business

In:

Submitted By dtrobinson
Words 485
Pages 2
Legal and Ethical Environment of Business your T name
AMERICAN INTERCONTINENTAL UNIVERSITY

Abstract

How important is it to have freedom to contract and practical commerce and be technologically neutral. Can you create a new computer chip design it , bubble wrap it and ship it for sale and still have ownership of that computer chip? With the Uniform Commercial Code and Uniform computer Information Transaction Act they will shed light of how you are protected by the government. Not just consumers but business are govern a like .
.

Before the UCC and the UCITA, the first U.S attempt to promote uniformity in commercial laws from state to state is the commerce clause. The commerce clause of the constitution, provides congress with authority to regulate business in different states. The commerce clause extends to all instrumentalities of interstate commerce as well as to intrastate conduct that has substantial effect on interstate commerce.
The UCITA is intended to facilitate the licensing of computer related intellectual property, with an emphasis on permitting owners of software the ability to maintain control over their intellectual property forever. The UCC is designed to facilitate the sale, shipment and delivery of tangible goods identified in a contract. The biggest difference I see between UCITA and UCC is UCITA gives the software designer control of their property even after sale of their property, where as the UCC is only concern with getting the product to the consumer. After I the consumer buy a computer I wouldn’t want Sony to come to my home and tell me they have to take their property back. Once a consumer buys a product the item is the consumer and the UCC only make sure the contract between the two parties are good.
The legal distinction between selling a product and licensing it is the following. Selling a product is a complete and final transfer from seller to buyer, of all right, title and interest in and to the property identified in a contract. A license is the right to use the property of another under certain agreed upon terms and conditions. The owners of the Chicago Bulls license the naming rights to the stadium in which their team play. United Airlines pay a fee to the Chicago Bulls to name the stadium United Center. Once their contract is over, Chicago Bulls stadium can be name something else or the same depends which company agree to the terms in the contract.
I believe the drafters of the UCITA decided to prose it as a separate and distinct uniform act because it interferes with the UCC by effectively limiting what is known as the first sale doctrine, which permits a purchaser of a copy of someone else work to sale the copy as his own.

References

Chaos versus uniformity: the divergent views of software in the International Community

Trevor Cox

2010 The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Legal and Ethical Environment of Business

...BUSN150 Unit 2-IP 07/24/2011 Dear Lucy, I am excited to hear that you are starting your own website. I am glad you read the article I sent you and I will try to answer your questions. 1. Bidder’s Edge operated a site that posted information concerning auctions being conducted on numerous websites. Bidder’s Edge was able to use a software robot to “crawl” or scan Ebay’s site, without permission. A normal customer couldn’t access numerous sites and items as quickly as Bidder’s Edge. Bidder’s Edge was able to access Ebay 100,000 times a day. This mattered to Ebay because Bidder’s Edge’s activity could possibly slow or diminish the experience of the user due to a decrease in the capacity of Ebay’s system. If Ebay allowed Bidder’s Edge’s activity to continue unchecked, it would encourage similar sites like Bidders Edge to engage in similar searching of Ebay’s site. This in turn could harm Ebay’s goodwill with its customers or cause it to lose profits. 2. The definition of traditional consists of any act that denies the lawful owner full ownership rights to the property. This includes theft of the property, destruction of the property, or damage of the property. 3. The California definition of trespass of computer services differs slightly from the traditional definition. Under California Penal Code 502 the following actions are crimes: damaging, destroying, or changing data to defraud or deceive people; taking or copying data from a computer or computer network;...

Words: 410 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Essay

...Discussion Activity 1 | 2 | The Manager as a Critical Thinker | Individual Paper 1 | 3 | Legal and Ethical Environment of Business:  The   Manager as an Ethical Decision Maker | Discussion Activity 2 | 3 | Team Work Plan | Team assignment | 4 | Organization Theory and Design | Discussion Activity 3 | 5 | Organization Theory and Design in the Global Environment | Team Project 1Individual Matching Exercise | 6 | Legal Environment:  Courts, Alternative Dispute   Resolution, and Agency | Discussion Activity 4 | 7 | Critical Thinking in the Legal Environment:  Torts   and Products Liability | Individual Paper 2  Discussion Activity 5 | 8 | Legal Environment:  Contracts and Forms of Business   Organizations | Discussion Activity 6  | 9 | Knowledge Integration | Take-home   Final | 10 | Corporate Social Responsibility in a Global and   Technological Environment | Team Project 2 | Assignment Details Session | Module/Topics Readings/Assignments | 1 | The   Manager as a Systems ThinkerObjective   1: Apply models of critical thinking and systems thinking to address   complex organizational issues.Objective   2: Reflect on seminar assignments and relate the skills and knowledge   gained to personal and professional goalsCompetency   : Systems Thinking | Read the following articles which you can find and   download from the UMUC library databases:  (A) ABI/Inform(B) Business Source Complete Hill, L.A. (2004).  New   manager development for the 21st century.  Academy...

Words: 2009 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

International Legal & Ethical Issues in Business

...International Legal and Ethical Issues In Business Several issues keep emerging in the current business world. Some of these issues are legal while others are ethical. The management of modern organizations must ensure that their human resources have desirable ethical behaviour. This will ensure that their organizations maintain their clientele and in turn increase their profit margins. How would you effectively present the issue of potentially defective products to the CEO, other directors, and managers? A potential defective product can cause injuries if taken lightly regardless of whether the company’s ethical guidelines have been communicated. Such situations can cause significant legal repercussions and destroy the reputation of a company, which can cost the company if proper steps are not followed in correcting it. Normally, the senior management in current organizations fails to know what is happening at the ground level and it is the duty of the employee in charge to give out a report (Edwards, 2008). During such a presentation to the top management, it is important for one to give out sampled evidence to support the allegation in an honest manner. This should be made in comparison to the actual products to bring out the difference. Physical evidence brings out product defects and it will challenge the top management to act fast to avoid legal battles with the consumers (Brooks, 2012). How would you specifically notify customers of such an occurrence? It is an...

Words: 921 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Strategic Management

...strategic management process, and indicate why a strategic management process is needed for a company The four components of strategic management are ethics, sustainability, innovation, and legal environment. Companies should exercise ethical practices when conducting business. These ethical practices eliminate legal repercussions, expenses, and ensure successful business transactions. Sustainability is the capacity of a company to maintain, and have the capacity to endure through unchanging resistance to change. The sustainable business has no negative impact on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy. Business innovation refers to a wide spectrum of original concepts, including development of new ways of doing business, new business models, and applications of technology and communications. Innovation helps the business restructure according to new innovative ideas and be able to compete with other businesses. The legal environment in business is broad. Legal environment involves ethics and business practices. The business must adhere to business ethics, social responsibilities, and laws in order for the business to run smoothly, avoid legal expenses, and avoid legal actions towards the company. These four components of strategic management are essential to the business success. Citigroup’s strategic management process Citigroup’s mission statement consists of serve individuals, communities, institutions, and nations. Their four key principles are common...

Words: 390 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Ethics and Legal Issues in Mergers

...Ethical and Legal Issues Merger of Company A & Company B Human Resources Management & Talent Development 07-04-13 Abstract In any merger, there are always legal and ethical issues involved. These issues have to be resolved in order to ensure a successful merger. It is the role of Human Resource personnel to ensure the code of ethics is used in legal and moral implications. The role of the Human resource manager is to create an ethical environment in which all employees are able to enjoy there inalienable rights. These rights will include the accessibility of information about the job, company, and there career and the right not to be coerced into situations. Maintaining these rights will help in reducing stress, establishing trust, increasing productivity and efficiency. This report will document the legal and ethical issues associated with a merger. It will also consist of a detailed implementation plan in resolving these potential ethical and legal issues. A plan for establishing an ethical work environment and resolving ethical and legal issues will be discussed as well. Identify Specific Legal and Ethical Issues involved in Mergers Recently the mergers and acquisitions of firms has become a major trend in business. In the process of mergers and acquisitions, the role of ethics and compliance has become a major step in ensuring success. A breakout session was held just recently on ethics and compliance in mergers and acquisitions. The panel, which featured...

Words: 1264 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Ethics Issues

...Business ethics mean many things to many people and for different reasons. Business ethics can be simply defined as moral standards by which people judge behavior (Tenbrunsel, 2008). In business, there are many different people you have to answer to: your customers, your shareholders, your colleagues and your clients. Business ethics are complex and very subjective and what we do when an ethical situation presents itself is what ultimately dictates one’s ethics. We have all heard of the “golden rule”, which is do unto others as you’d have done to you. I think this ultimately defines ethics and how they are very personal and subjective. If you lie, then you should not be upset when you are lied to. In the world of business, employers monitor their employees in different ways and for different reasons and there is no legal boundaries to the monitoring. There are five different ways in which employees are watched for ethics: business ethics, legal compliance, legal liability, performance review, productivity, and security (Reh, 2010). Legal compliance is a term used to ensure that companies and their employees adhere to the regulated guidelines that are set fourth by the industry. An example of this behavior is with customer service representatives. A company chooses to record the conversations that the customer service representative have with customers to protect themselves and their customers. While this does not seem like much, but it shows that a company cares enough to...

Words: 574 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Law and Corporate

...you should choose 1 then 3 for academic issues from the automated menu.”1-877-642-2999“Used for problems entering the class”1-866-448-6703 or 1-303-873-0005“Used for problems once in the class” | INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL | Kubasek, N. K., Brennan, B. A., & Browne, N. (2009).  The legal environment of business: A critical thinking approach (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall.Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2010).  Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases (7th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company/South-Western/Cengage Learning.PLEASE READ SYLLABUS PART II in the Course Home tab, it contains important University policies.GETTING TECHNICAL HELPTechnical questions regarding eCollege or classroom issues should be referred to helpdesk@strayeronline.net. Or you may phone the helpdesk at 1(866)448-6703.If the question regards a Strayer system, technical support can be reached at 1(877) 642-2999. Any technical inquiries sent to the instructor will, as a matter of course, be forwarded to the Helpdesk. The eCollege helpdesk is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. Strayer Tech Support is available during normal Strayer Online business hours.QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TABIn the course home area tab you may ask content related questions to your fellow students or your Professor. You should check this area to see anyone has a question for you. I check it often and will...

Words: 5313 - Pages: 22

Premium Essay

Business Analysis

...Issues and its Impact on the Business Performance and Strategic Direction Bellevue University Assignment 9.1 May 4, 2015 Business situation analysis and its impact on performance and strategic direction Business situational analysis is defined as internal and external factors that affect the business’s environment in different way (the situational analysis, 2011). There are five situational factors that most businesses focus on: legal, regulatory, social, technological and ethical. Thus, each factor drives the business decision making. Therefore, situational analysis allows the business to determine the business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (The situation analysis, 2011) and make beneficial decisions. However, legal and ethical factors are areas where issues comes at any level of the business. In this topic, it’s important to describe and analyze the critical issues around legal and ethical factors and how they impact the business performance and strategic direction. A legal factor relates to new laws or directives governing how businesses behave. This can be in relation to other businesses, customers or the environment. Indeed, businesses need to watch out for new laws put on the market. In fact, businesses’ activities are restrained by laws and regulations (A hands-on introduction to business fundamentals in foundation, 2014). Those laws could be local, national or international and all depend on where the business is operating. Moreover, changes...

Words: 650 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Lwc1 Cos

...LWC1 - Fundamentals of Business Law and Ethics Course of Study Your competence will be assessed as you complete the LWC1 objective assessment for this course of study. This course of study may take up to 10 weeks to complete. Introduction Overview There are the two major subdomains of study within the Fundamentals of Business Law and Ethics Course of Study: business law and business ethics. The exam covers 11 business law and ethics concepts, including the following: contractual relationship government regulation of business dispute resolution labor and employment law hiring and employment practices warranties, negligence, and liabilities Sarbanes-Oxley Act ethical issues in business ethical leadership ethics programs use of company resources You likely have had some experience with the legal system, either through your own encounters or merely through listening to the nightly news, and you have probably read or heard about various ethical and legal issues causing financial upheaval in today's business world. This background will serve you well in this study. Now you can expand on that experience, and perhaps refine and enhance your own views on these issues. Once you complete this course of study, you will have demonstrated a level of competence that you can immediately use in your work setting and career. Outcomes and Evaluation There are 10 competencies covered by this course of study; they are listed in the "Competencies for Fundamentals of Business Law and Ethics (LWC1)...

Words: 8481 - Pages: 34

Free Essay

Addressing International Legal and Ethical Issues

...Addressing International Legal and Ethical Issues LAW/421 Contemporary Business Law Addressing International Legal and Ethical Issues With the increasing globalization of business, organizations are finding themselves in an global environment full of legal and ethical challenges. In some international environments, the very legitimacy of a company doing business in a specific country can be a challenge. International transactions and dispute resolution require both an understanding of the law and sensitivity to foreign culture, formal and information power structures and decision-making approaches. This paper will ethical and legal issues involved in resolving legal disputes in international transactions. From an ethical point of view, an organization seeking to expand globally should first consider whether they should conduct business in countries after researching the specific country’s sociopolitical environment. Corrupt public officials, participating in racial or gender discrimination, polluting the environment or violate the human rights of their citizens through slave or child labor or inhuman working conditions (Trevino & Nelson, 2011) is considered corporate culture in some countries. For example, Foxconn is a multinational electronics contractor for major American, European, and Japanese electronic companies who has been involved in several controversies relating to how it manages employees in China. It is claimed that Foxconn uses underage workers and...

Words: 653 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Jjt2 - Social Responsibility

...adherence to business processes that produce a positive impact on society. This impact should benefit not only their individual employees, but all shareholders within the global environment. Corporate Social Responsibility is analogous to Corporate Citizenship, which is defined as “The extent to which businesses are socially responsible for meeting legal, ethical and economic responsibilities place on them by shareholders.” Investopedia explains, “The aim is for businesses to create higher standards of living and quality of life in the communities in which they operate, while still preserving profitability for stakeholders.” (Investopedia, 2014) In today’s market, there are numerous applications of individual acts that define a Corporate Citizen and reflect positively and negatively on how a corporation is perceived. A corporation’s Social Responsibility level can be beneficial or detrimental to the sustained profitability and growth of the corporation. When corporations fail to acknowledge their own need for social responsibility, profitability and growth suffer. Implementation of socially responsible business practices and strategies show that a corporation is focused on helping and improving society and the environment. This social responsibility serves to increase profits and good will of shareholders in the long run. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should be focused on four primary categories: • Environmental Impact • Ethical Leadership and Business Practices ...

Words: 3274 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Business Ethics

...In the business world, we must separate our own morals from legality ethics because whether we believe we are taking action to help save jobs or businesses, it is necessary to respect our business law of ethics. Ethics should be considered in every choice we make, especially those concerning business and legal decisions. Although, an action is technically considered a legal one, that doesn’t exactly mean that it is ethical. Also, the other way around, just because an action is illegal, is it morally or ethically right because it is helping those in need or because it seems acceptable in the world today. In 2012, a Chinese electronics manufacturing company, who is responsible for producing components and parts for Apple, was revealed to be employing underage workers after an internal audit was done against them. This act was in direct violation of child labor laws, but seemingly enough many U.S. companies continue to use products from Chinese companies that hire underage workers to produce their products. Even though it is against the law, many justify this action by believing it is ethical because it provides jobs to people in need and that the children want to work and are doing so to help their poor families in need. Also, this helps Apple because it provides them with very cheap labor, so it is a beneficial to not only the workers but the company itself. The media bashes these companies by putting them on the news and writing articles explaining the accidents and mistakes...

Words: 2018 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Should Government Be Responsible for Csr?

...Introduction Carroll’s four responsibilities of business are economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary (Carroll, 1991). Economic responsibility is a business organization to produce goods or service to society, and creditors or shareholders can get return. Legal responsibility is defined in law by government that management is expected to follow. Ethical responsibility is organization management to obey the beliefs in a society. The last discretionary responsibility is the management of their own accord to take obligations, they do it by themselves, and not others force them to do (Carroll, 1991). Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as a business’s decisions or actions are made which take outcomes beyond the organization's economic profit into account in the decision making process (Carroll, 1991). Social responsibilities include ethical responsibilities and discretionary responsibilities. The difference between them was that less people expect a firm to perform discretionary responsibilities, while a lot of people expect a firm to perform ethical responsibilities. Discretionary responsibilities are like day-care centers, to training the hard-core unemployed and philanthropic contributions. A firm can take actions to perform its ethical responsibilities and discretionary responsibilities that society will value it but not put it into law yet. After satisfied ethical responsibilities, an organization will pay...

Words: 2304 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Examining the Application Business Ethics and Laws in the Tobacco Industry

...Application Business Ethics and Laws in the Tobacco Industry Abstract “Ethics is not something exterior to the economy…rather, ethics is and interior principle of the economy itself, which cannot function if it does not take account of the human values of solidarity and reciprocal responsibility.” (Pope Benedict XVI) I agree with Pope Benedict. Ethics deals with values that relate to the nature of human conduct and values associated with that conduct. In today’s business environment it is critical to understand the relationship between ethics and business law as ethical behavior and corporate responsibility are more important than ever. It has been argued that good ethics within an organization equate to good business, although good ethics are not required to be successful in business. This examination will put a spotlight on the role of ethics in the business environment, with a particular look at the application of ethics in the tobacco industry. Keywords: ethics, business ethics, natural law, tobacco Examining the Application Business Ethics and Laws in the Tobacco Industry “Business transactions are completed through a combination on values of the parties and the laws that reflect those values and the importance of ones word in business.” (Twomey & Jennings, 2014, p. 33) Business ethics examine an organizations ethical principles and potential moral and ethical dilemmas. In a general sense, business ethics is the application of moral and ethical norms to...

Words: 2146 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Cross Cultural Perspectives

...Ethics Everyone in business is worried about doing what is right and not being seen as wrong. There has been a lot of attention focused on ethics and integrity in business these days. Every organization is driving and pushing for changes in these areas. Any thoughts of quick-fixes for ethical behavior in businesses can be scary, but good ethical behavior for any business is fundamental to its success. For entrepreneurs, ethical conduct is usually missed or ignored. Many business experts regard ethics as something to preach, but not acted on and, therefore, make it even more unethical. According to Suttle and Demand Media, Organizational ethics is the principals and standards by which businesses operate (n.d.). They are best demonstrated through acts of fairness, compassion, integrity, honor and responsibility. The key for business owners and executives is ensuring that all employees understand these ethics. One of the best ways to communicate organizational ethics is by training employees to company standards. With these thoughts in mind, we need to address organizational ethics with awareness and support for all involved within the organization. External social pressures influencing organizational ethics External social pressures have driven most companies in business to be aware of the expectations on them to act in a manner that is ethically correct. They have to show awareness in areas of being involved in the community and areas of handling the environment. Walmart's social...

Words: 871 - Pages: 4