Week 2 Constitutional Issues TV show cops and constitutional issues behind reality-based police television programs.
The article “"Just the Facts Ma'am": The Supreme Court Says "No" to Media RideAlongs’’ highlights the legal political and Ethical dimension in Business. this case presents a
constitutional issue. In this case, the Supreme Court of the U.S rules that it is illegal for members
of the press to accompany law officers carrying out raids on criminals. This is despite the fact
that the duty of the press was to inform the public and their audience. The message that comes
out clearly is that legal political and ethical dimensions have to be respected while carrying out
operations or professional activities. The legal aspect of this case is that the law protects the
rights of all individuals’ privacy and as such, the press despite having its freedom should respect
the privacy of the victims. From the ethical point, the victim deserves to be protected from
publicity of the media.
Janet Jackson and Justin NFL half-time show
The Janet Jackson and Justin NFL half-time show also shows the legal political and ethical
dimensions in business. In this show, Janet’s breasts in a breast shield were exposed to the
audience for several seconds raising some controversies. Critics argue that this was done on
purpose so as to enhance the publicity of the show. From the case, authorities increased the
regulation on broadcasting while also putting in place strict penalties for indecency in
broadcasting. The message that comes from this incident is that law regulates on what should be
broadcasted. From the ethical perspective, businesses are reminded to carry out their operation in
a manner that does not promote indecency and expose societal culture in a bad way. Administrative Agency Issue
Drug cartel allegedly aided by top Mexican police commander, now in US custody.
administrative agencies are law making bodies that have been given some limited power
to make laws. These bodies specialize in issues that require expert knowledge. An example of
such a body is the U.S Drug Enforcement Department. This body is tasked with tackling drug
related issues and bringing to justice the individuals or groups involved in drug and drug
related cases. In the article “Drug cartel allegedly aided by top Mexican police commander,
now in US custody’’ the work of the U.S Drug Enforcement Department in ensuring that
drug related criminals are effectively dealt with. In this case, the top commander of a
Mexican drug cartel aided by top police officers is arrested by U.S officials. The message
that comes out from this case is that administrative agencies help in ensuring that business is
regulated and only legal business is allowed. Also, it is clear that the administrative agencies
help in ensuring ethical businesses practices in the society.
House Approves Bill to Overturn FCC Privacy Rule.
In this article entitled “House Approves Bill to Overturn FCC Privacy Rule’’ Lawmakers
voted to overturn Obama’s rule on consumer privacy that had restricted telecommunication
Companies to seek the permission of customers before marketing their apps and web browsing
history to third parties. In this article, it is the responsibility of the Federal Communication
agency to ensure that this rule is followed thus demonstrating the importance of administrative
agencies in regulating business. However, it be argued that sometimes, the administrative
agencies can act unethically when implementing the laws. For example, having overturned
Obama’s privacy laws, the privacy of the customers will be compromised when the Federal
Communication Commission implements the new rules. Reference Drug cartel allegedly aided by top Mexican police commander, now in US custody. (n.d.).
Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/05/mexican-top-antidrug-officer-allegedly-protected-cartel-lied-to-dea.html
I. (2017, February 01). Janet Jackson’s ‘wardrobe malfunction’ occurred the last time the
Super Bowl was in Houston. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from
https://theundefeated.com/features/janet-jackson-wardrobe-malfunction-super-bowl-xxxviii/
House Approves Bill to Overturn FCC Privacy Rule. (2017, March 28). Retrieved May
16, 2017, from http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/03/28/house-approves-bill-tooverturn-fcc-privacy-rule.html
"Just the Facts Ma'am": The Supreme Court Says "No" to Media Ride-Alongs. (n.d.).
Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol7is1/costello.html Week 3 Legal Political and Ethical Dimensions of Business
The operations of businesses are governed by the law. at all times, businesses are
supposed to operate with strict adherence to law. failure to comply with the existing laws can
cause the business to face legal suits. It is for this reason that the management of a business need
to ensure that the business operates in accordance with the rules or law in place. Torts, product
liability and environmental issues are important consideration that the business should adhere
when operating. This paper discusses some of these issues as represented in fox media.
Torts: Case: Two employees are suing Microsoft, alleging their jobs gave them PTSD
Tort is referred to as a civil wrong which causes another person to suffers and in which
the person causing the wrong is slapped with legal liability for causing the tort. There are several
types of tort which include negligence, injury, and breach of duty. A business entity, just like a
private person is legally liable for tort caused. As such, business should ensure that they do not
cause the wrong that harms other people or their employees.
Negligence as a form of tort relates to the failure of an entity or individual to act in an
appropriate manner or in an ethical way in accordance with the existing circumstances. In tort,
negligence entails the harm that is caused from carelessness of the plaintiff to the defendant.
In an article on Fox News titled “Two employees are suing Microsoft, alleging their jobs gave
them PTSD’’ by Michael Harthorne, Microsoft is sued by two of its employees. The two
employees are Henry Soto and Greg Blauert. The two allege that Microsoft made them to look at
pornographic and pictures that are meant to entertain the twisted and the mentally sick persons.
In this case, Microsoft is sued for negligence. The two people claim to have become mentally
disturbed upon watching the videos. However, Microsoft in its defense states that watching the
videos was within the work of these employees in ensuring that the content posted on the internet
is safe.
This is one case that shows that a business is legally liable for tort caused. Despite the
fact that the employees belong to Microsoft, it is the responsibility of this Company to ensure
that the safety of its employees is provided. Failure to guarantee this safety is what results in the
company being sued. I find it very legal for these employees to sue Microsoft because it is within
the legal requirement that requires business to take a measured approach in their actions so as not
to harm others. Product Liability:
Case: Jury awards more than $70M to woman in Johnson & Johnson baby powder lawsuit
Product liability refers to the situation where the manufacturer, seller or distributor of a
product is held liable for harm caused to an individual that uses the product in question. As such,
the manufacturer, seller or distributor is required to ensure that the product being presented in the
market is free of defects are suit for consumption. The product liability law is important in
ensuring that consumers are protected. It is said that thousands of people are affected by
defective products on a yearly basis hence the need to ensure the protection of the consumers.
The issue of product liability and how the business can be held liable for defective products is
highlighted in an article on Fox News titled “Jury awards more than $70M to woman in Johnson
& Johnson baby powder lawsuit’’. In this article, a woman in California is awarded $70M by a
court upon successful suing Johnsons and Johnsons for a defective baby powder containing
talcum. The women by the name Deborah Giannecchini was able to convince the jury that the
powder had caused her cancer.
This case shows that business has the responsibility to ensure that their products are free
of defects. It is the customers of the products that suffer in case of defect in products. Therefore,
product liability helps in ensuring that business take measures to ensure that their products are
safe and suitable for use. As such, it was just for the court to award the woman the money for the
harm the products had caused her.
Environmental Law Issues
Case: Freedom Industries pleads guilty to pollution charges in West Virginia chemical spill case
It is the responsible of an individual or entity to ensure that the environment is protected
and preserved. Failure by a business entity in ensuring that the environment is preserved could result in legal suit being brought against such a business. currently, there is increased calls for
businesses to ensure that the environment is protected from pollution. Hence, it is mandatory for
the top management of a business to protect the environment in complying with the rules and in
avoiding legal suits.
In an article in Fox News titled “Freedom Industries pleads guilty to pollution charges in
West Virginia chemical spill case’’ Freedom industries is fined close to $900,000 for
contaminating the West Virginia river. A spillage of a coal-cleaning agent from the company had
entered the river and in the process caused tap water services to be cut to many households. It is
fare for a business to be legally liable for any damage caused to the environment. Businesses are
responsible for a lot of environmental damages in the society. Therefore, the environmental
protection laws are important in ensuring that businesses take measures aimed at protecting the
environment.
Reference Two employees are suing Microsoft, alleging their jobs gave them PTSD. (n.d.). Retrieved May 25, 2017,
from http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/01/11/two-employees-are-suing-microsoft-alleging-their-jobs-gavethem-ptsd.html Jury awards more than $70M to woman in Johnson & Johnson baby powder lawsuit. (n.d.). Retrieved
May 25, 2017, from http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/10/28/jury-awards-more-than-70m-to-woman-injohnson-johnson-baby-powder-lawsuit.html Freedom Industries pleads guilty to pollution charges in West Virginia chemical spill case. (n.d.).
Retrieved May 25, 2017, from http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/03/23/freedom-industries-pleads-guilty-topollution-charges-in-west-virginia-chemical.html Week 4 The Law of Contracts and Sales “A contract is generally defined as a legally enforceable exchange of promises or an
exchange of a promise for an act that assures the parties to the agreement that their promises will
be enforceable. Contract law brings predictability to the exchange.” (Kubasek,) “In recent news
articles the Supreme Court decision allows resale of used ink cartridges despite patent holder
restriction. The articles are based on a patent holder that restricts the reuse or resale of its printer
ink cartridges can’t invoke patent law against a remanufacturing company that violates the
restriction, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. The court ruled that Lexmark
International’s patent rights are exhausted with its first sale of the cartridges, despite restrictions
it tried to impose.” Weiss, D. C. (2017, May 30).
‘The court ruled in Lexmark’s infringement suit against Impression Products for
refurbishing and reselling Lexmark cartridges. Lexmark tried to prevent third parties from
acquiring, refurbishing and reselling its used cartridges by creating a “return program.”
Customers who bought cartridges and agreed to return them got 20 percent off their cost. To
prevent customers from reselling the cartridges to others, Lexmark installed a microchip that
prevents reuse.” Weiss, D. C. (2017, May 30).
“Companies such as Impression Products had developed methods to counteract the
microchip, enabling it to refurbish Lexmark cartridges and undercut the Lexmark new-sale price.
Lexmark’s contracts with customers may have been enforceable under contract law, but the
company did not retain patent rights after sale of the cartridges. Its conclude that a patentee’s
decision to sell a product exhausts all of its patent rights in that item, regardless of any
restrictions the patentee purports to impose or the location of the sale” Weiss, D. C. (2017, May
30).
Law of Property: Real and Personal
The right of property is that sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and
exercises over the external things of the world, in total exclusion of the right of any other individual in the universe. It consists in the free use, enjoyment, and disposal of all a person’s
acquisitions, without any control or diminution save only by the laws of the land.” A more
concise definition, but perhaps too broad, comes from the Restatement of the Law of Property,
which defines property as the “legal relationship between persons with respect to a thing. (realestate.law.)Property can be classified in various ways, including tangible versus intangible,
private versus public, and personal versus real. Tangible property is that which physically exists,
like a building, a popsicle stand, a hair dryer, or a steamroller. Intangible property is something
without physical reality that entitles the owner to certain benefits; stocks, bonds, and intellectual
property would be common examples. Public property is that which is owned by any branch of
government; private property is that which is owned by anyone else, including a corporation.
(real-estate.law.)
Perhaps the most important distinction is between real and personal property.
Essentially, real property is immovable; personal property is movable. At common law, personal
property has been referred to as “chattels.” When chattels become affixed to real property in a
certain manner, they are called fixtures and are treated as real property. For example, “If you
have oil in your backyard, by all means you have the right to dig and acquire that oil. On the
other hand, if your neighbor has that oil, you cannot dig through your yard downward, and then
sideways towards the neighbors. With solar heating and cooler units, airspace becomes more
demanding because of the sun needed to shine down on the property in order for the
heating/cooling to take place.”(real-estate.law)
“Personal property deals primarily with movable things, even if they weigh a ton, as long
as they are not attached to the land. You might ask yourself, what’s the purpose behind these two
classifications? Well, the classifications enable the law to draw a line between the two”. “if you
are purchasing a house with a swing and slide set in the backyard, if the swing set is not bolted, the seller of the land has all rights to take it with him or her, unless it was highlighted within the
contract of sale. If the swing set was bolted, the only way the seller could take that with him or
her is if it has been stated on the contract, if not, then the swing set is staying on that land since it
is permanently attached.” (real-estate.law.)
Intellectual Property
“A form of intellectual property that is related to the patent is the trade secret. A trade
secret is information related to the proprietary development of a commercial product that is not
generally known to the public. A trade secret is inherently protected even without any filing with
the government. There is no such thing as filing a trade secret, as trade secrets would be
protected through maintenance of confidentiality. Unlike patents, trade secrets do not protect its
owner against reverse engineering or independent discovery. An example Coca-Cola, a large soft
drink manufacturer, adds a secret ingredient to all of its soft drinks that allows its drinkers to feel
really good after drinking Coca-Cola products. One day, Barbara, a tourist who is touring the
Coca-Cola manufacturing plant and who accidentally stumbles into the wrong room, accidentally
discovers that the secret ingredient in Coma-Cola is a small dose of a tranquilizer. Even if the
production of Coca-Cola is not a patented process, Barbara may not make this information public
and she may not use this information to produce her own soft drinks that are copies of CocaCola”(Juris national paralegal).
“There are three basic areas of intellectual property that will be dealt with in this course:
copyrights, trademarks, and patents. Copyrights provide protection for works that were authored
by the copyright holder. Those works can be in any form and can be delivered through any
medium. Thus, copyright protection can protect written essays or books, songs, paintings and
other works of art, movies, computer software, etc. Copyright protection for any original work is
automatic and it arises immediately upon completion of a work. Still, the protection afforded can be greatly enhanced by registering the copyright with the Copyright Office. An example is J.K.
Rowling, author of the popular “Harry Potter” book series, holds a copyright on the book series.
This allows her to prevent anybody from reproducing or re-selling any Harry Potter books
without her permission (or, of course, the permission of the publishing company to whom Ms.
Rowling has sold the publishing rights). In addition, if another author named Play Gerizer
publishes “his own” book called “Harry Potter and the Overcooked Spaghetti” that shares many
of the same characters and plotlines of the original Harry Potter series, Rowling would have a
cause of action against Gerizer. Even if Gerizer’s book slightly changes the names and places in
the book, Gerizer may still have violated Rowling’s copyright if he stole the expression of her
ideas. Trademarks are words or symbols that are used by a manufacturer or seller of an item that
serve to identify and distinguish the goods of that proprietor from those of all others. (Juris
national paralegal)
Reference
Kubasek, N. K., Brennan, B. A., Browne, M. N. (12/2013). The Legal Environment of Business,
7th Edition. [devry]. Retrieved
from https://devry.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781323000991
Weiss, D. C. (2017, May 30). Supreme Court decision allows resale of used ink cartridges
despite patent holder restriction. Retrieved May 31, 2017, from
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/supreme_court_decision_allows_resale_of_used
_ink_cartridges_despite_patent
(real-estate.law.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_introductionto-the-law-of-property-estate-planning-and-insurance/s12-01-the-general-nature-ofproperty.html
Juris national paralegal (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from
https://nationalparalegal.edu/public_documents/courseware_asp_files/patents/IntroIP/Wh
atIs.asp Week 5 Employment Law Issues
Generally, there are quite a number of both federal and state laws, rules, regulations, and
principles that govern the employer-employee relationship. Many laws such as wages, safety and
privacy are applicable to all employees. Therefore, employers are required to abide by the laws
and keep accurate records. The employment and labor law details some of the requirements that
are expected from both the employer and the employees. These requirements have led to some
issues related to employment law in the business. The issues are but not limited to: Employment
discrimination and harassment; wages and other benefits; workplace safety; workplace privacy;
family and medical leave; and hiring, retention, firing and references issues.
Discrimination and harassment in a business organization can arise in many different
forms including gender based discrimination, racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and
cultural discrimination (Tess-Mattner, 2004). It occurs when a member of a protected class such
as women and minorities is handled differently than his or her peers. Some misconduct such as
use of racial slurs or denial of advancement opportunities can be treated as discriminatory
activities. This has become a major issue especially in the United States which is populated with
immigrants. For instance in April this year, 11 current and former employees have sued FOX
News, citing intolerable racial bias. According to the news articles, eleven current and former
Fox News employees filed a class-action lawsuit in New York against the network, accusing it
for “abhorrent, intolerable, unlawful and hostile racial discrimination” (Ember, 2017).
According to the employees, there have been a lot of racial discrimination in the company but
the network executives have taken no action allowing the inappropriate behavior to continue. In
addition, Bill O’Reilly one of the Fox New executives has been involved in various cases over
sexual harassment and other misconduct behavior. Over the years, about $13 million has been paid out to address and settle complaints from women about Mr. O’Reilly’s behavior (Ember,
2017). This indicates how critical the issue is. Many business organizations have lost lot of
finances settling such lawsuits. Employers are subjected to many more state laws than federal
laws. In the current society, discrimination laws no longer protect only obvious racial or gender
differences. They go beyond that to include less familiar classification such as age, economic
status, and ethnicity.
Safety requirements as another issue in the employment law, demands that an employer
must provide a safe work environment, supply o require workers to provide safety equipment,
and ensure that safety policies are followed and all equipment properly used (Tess-Mattner,
2004). The requirements are provided under Occupational Safety and health Administration
(OSHA) which has issues general safety standards as well as specific safety requirements for
particular industries and activities. The agency also requires that material safety data sheet on all
toxic or caustic substances are made available in the workplace and accessible to employees.
This is a big issue as most business organizations fail to adhere to the regulations and standards
ending up injuring their employees.
The increased use of modern technological development and innovations in the work
place gives rise to employee privacy concerns: telephone, security cameras, e-mail, and internet
monitoring; and searches of desks, lockers, duffle bags, briefcases, and handbags. Some aspects
such as intercepting wire or electronic communications are subject to federal and state laws
which limit the degree of monitoring allowed (Tess-Mattner, 2004). An example of such issue is
that of Apple against FBI. In the dispute, the Justice department filed court paper requesting
Apple to load software on to the phone of a suspected criminal who had been killed. The
software was to bypass a self-destruct feature that erases all data. However, Apple claimed that the move would “threaten the security of our customers.” This brings in the privacy issues in
business operation. The company was ready to expose their product at the expense of their
customers.
Hiring, retention, firing, and references are other most critical issue in relation to
employment law. Naturally, business entities want to hire capable, reliable and most productive
workers who can work for reasonable compensation. However, employers must not be
scrupulous in not appearing to discriminate while reaching a hiring or firing decision. According
to the reports, Courts and administrative agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission and its state equivalents handle thousands of discrimination and harassment claims
each year (Silverstein & Hohler, 2010). Wage, hour, and other benefits are an employment issue
related to payment and settling other employees’ compensation benefits. Employers may make a
variety of wage-related errors such as following federal minimum wage standards in states which
mandate a higher minimum wage hence raising differences.
Employers need to follow state minimum wages if the states have such policies in place.
Exempting any salaried worker from overtime and minimum wage requirement is another wage
related issue. According to the labor Act, for an employee to exempted, the job duties must fall
within one of the five categories: executive, professional, outsides sales’ administrative, and
computer technologies. Exempting employees who do not fall in one of these categories raises
complaints against the company. Finally, employee benefits such as health insurance, and other
compensations might also affect the company. The federal law requires a company to insure their
employees.
References Ember S., (2017) 11 Sue Fox News, Citing ‘Intolerable’ Racial Bias. Retrieved June 15, 2017
from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...

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