Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind like inventions, artistic and literary works, designs, and more used for profit. There are two categories of intellectual property: industrial property, like product trademarks and patents, and copyrights including plays, music, drawings, novels and more.Choose 1 of the 2 situations, and describe how intellectual property law can be applied, with examples. This is significant to you because you have intellectual property that you have generated, and it is valuable to you both personally and professionally.
Situation 1: Dr. Joe Scientist has worked for you at your pharmaceutical company for a decade. He has been privy to several company trade secrets in drug development over the years, as well. As a brilliant researcher, he has identified various new compounds recently in the drug discovery process to aid in future development of some very profitable products for the company. He is angry that you have not promoted him, and this has manufactured some contention between you and his colleagues. Just, a competitor recruited Dr. Joe to come to work for it with the promise of twice the salary and a lead scientist job title. He has finally made his decision and informs you that he will be leaving the company in 2 weeks. Your next step is to work with the legal department to design a termination agreement around intellectual property. You are very concerned that he is going to give up some company trade secrets.
- List 2 key components that must be included in the contract to protect the company, and explain why.
- Consider what intellectual property includes relative to this scenario. If Dr. Scientist shares any company trade secrets with his new company, can your company recover profits?
- How can you prohibit Dr. Scientist from divulging any company trade secrets?
- Add one more observation about intellectual property that applies to your analysis.