Please answer the following questions, in your own words. Pretend you are explaining the concepts to someone who knows something about business but very little about law. Each of these five questions can be answered in two-pages or so of closely-reasoned, densely-packed scintillating prose. Please do so. There as second part of assignment below a page each after these 5 questions
1. Why do you suppose the Constitution grants "exclusive use" to authors and inventors for only a "limited" period of time? How limited should this time be and why? Consider patents and copyrights separately. What factors would you consider in setting this limit? Address issues of Law/Business/Society in your answer, and use examples to illustrate.
2. Consider the doctrine of "eminent domain," as seen in the case of Tuck-It-Away vs NYC (the Columbia University case we reviewed in class). Describe its mechanism, its origin, and why it is part of our system of property laws. Also, what are some of the risks of injustice from this doctrine? Now apply these concepts to explain the Law/Business/Society implications in the following case:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/nyregion/some-houses-on-fire-island-to-be-torn-down-to-make-way-for-new-dune.html
3. Consider: what is a trade secret and how would you know one when you see it? Why do we consider it a form of property? In what business situations would you expect to see firms relying on trade secrets? How might the doctrine of trade secrets be abused? Why? Now apply these concepts to explain Law/Business/Society implications the following cases:
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/business/07muffin.html
https://advisorhub.com/morgan-stanley-chases-junior-broker-in-case-testing-broker-protocol-limits/
https://www.thebrokerprotocol.com/
4. Consider: In what sense can a "trade mark" (eg, Nike Swoosh, Coke insignia) be considered property? How is this property right established by an "owner" of the trademark? How are the interests of society (owners, customers, others) served by the creation of trademark property rights? Now apply these ideas to explain the following cases:
https://www.ipbrief.net/2016/04/06/house-of-cards-facing-legal-trouble/
https://koin.com/2015/08/19/adidas-portland-sues-forever-21-over-branding/
5. Please read the article below which describes a decision made in federal district court on the patentability of human genes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/30gene.html
Then please write (i) a 1-page +/- brief in support of Judge Sweet's decision, and (ii) a 1-page +/- brief opposing Judge Sweet's decision.
Your briefs should reflect a broad perspective of Law/Business/Society.
{This case was ultimately decided by the supreme court, which supported Sweet, but I am interested in your application of concepts from this course, not the court's position.}
Please answer the following questions, in your own words. Pretend you are explaining the concepts to someone who knows something about business but nothing about law. Each of these questions can be answered in several paragraphs of closely-reasoned densely-packed scintillating prose. Please do so.
1. Oliver Wendall Holmes once wrote "Our law does not enforce every promise which a man may make. Promises made as ninety-nine promises out of a hundred are, by word of mouth or simple writing, are not binding . . ." When does the law enforce promises? Specifically, what has to happen in order for a person to be able to appeal to the state to enforce a promise? Be specific and complete, and use some examples from our course to illustrate your points.
2. From a business/tax and risk/return standpoint, what are the major differences between a for-profit "corporation" and a "general partnership"? What sorts of issues do these differences raise for society? Use the recent (last 50 years) history of Wall Street as an example to illustrate your ideas.
3. A) Do you think for-profit publicly traded corporations should be in the hospital business? Why or Why not? Make sure to address the market structure factors (inefficiencies and agency) when formulating your answer. Use some recent cases to illustrate. You will need to refer to our power points and lectures to answer this question
4. In class we described several different types of "cooperatives," including customer, supplier, and employee cooperatives. Give a "real world" example of each of these three different types of cooperatives, and explain why each may be the most effective arrangement of own we ship/governance/ management for its particular market. Again, you will need to refer to our power points and lectures to answer this question.
5. We often hear talk of corporations as "persons" under the law. What does this mean, practically, and how has it evolved over time from Chief Justice John Marshall to Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy? What kind of person is the corporation, and why is this important? Specifically, how has the personhood of corporations been changed by the recent Supreme Court decisions of Citizens United and Hobby Lobby? Please explain.
6. Sarbanes-Oxley - affectionately known as "SOX" - was passed by the Senate 97-0 in Summer 2002, then signed into law by President George W. Bush. It is one of the strongest laws ever enacted concerning publicly traded corporations. Why was it passed? What did it do? And how has it changed the governing of such publicly traded corporations?
7. As discussed in class, Insider Trading Law in the USA is built entirely on the priciple of fiduciary duty and preventing deception in the markets. And it is mostly derived from rule SEC Rule 10B-5 and common law decisions. Your task: Draft a short statute - a law - that is both clear and easy to interpret to prevent insider trading in the securities markets. Then explain why your statute is effective.
8. When we speak of the fiduciary duty of the executive in business schools, we often hear about "profit maximization," "share price maximization" etc. What does the law say is the duty of the executive? Is there a difference? How do you explain it?