1. What gives a person the right to own property? Any limitation on that right? Why does Locke believe people form government? 2. What are ways in which Locke’s philosophy does not appear to not fit the twenty-first century context? 3. What do you think Locke would say about a government that banned the use of dangerous equipment or polluting processes, restricting a company’s right to operate as it chooses?
> Chen, a former Monsanto Company employee, was offered a job with a Chinese seed company. After he tendered his resignation to Monsanto, the company ran a routine check of his company-issued computers and found them loaded with highly sophisticated and un
> (a) Can anyone legally stop you from using your grandmother’s recipe for your dessert? (b) Can anyone legally stop you from calling it Susan’s Derbie Pie?
> Political campaigns are notorious for the intellectual property issues: (a) What legal and ethical rights do artists have if a candidate they strongly oppose uses their song without permission? (b) When comedian John Oliver learned that Donald Trump's a
> Some biotech inventions—cell-lines and bacteria for example—must continuously replicate in order to be maintained for any use. Something analogous to planting, watering and cultivating is required to keep these synthetic organisms alive. Would such care
> Under U.S. Copyright law, the "First Sale" doctrine allows the purchaser of a copyrighted work to dispose of it however she wishes--use it, sell it, give it away--without permission of the copyright holder. This applies even to textbooks sold abroad at c
> While Copyright generally protects creative--not functional--creations, the law does apply to "pictorial, graphic and sculptural works" that can be "separated from and exist independently of the useful article's function." Would any of the following be p
> Fifty-four Sudanese boys who escaped starvation, disease and militia attacks in Darfur found refuge in the U.S. In 2003, they shared their life stories in a taped interview with film producer Robert Newmyer and screenwriter Margaret Nagle. The refugees r
> 1. How does the DOL list differ from the primary beneficiary test? Why did the appellate court decide to adopt the primary beneficiary test? 2. Find out how the District Court ruled on remand. 3. The court adopts the primary benefit test for for-profit c
> The New York Yankees hold a registered trademark in the phrase "The House that Ruth Built." Should a company be allowed to trademark the phrase: "The House that Juice Built" for use on t-shirts, baseball caps and mugs?
> Actress Cindy Garcia won a small role in what she was told would be an adventure film. Instead, the producers used her performance in an anti-Islamist film, Innocence of Muslims. Garcia's voice was dubbed so that she appeared to be uttering anti-Mohammed
> Consumers and scientists alike have raised concerns about personal care products: one hair-care company received more than 21,000 complaints of itching, rashes and hair loss; experts worry about chemicals that might, over time, increase the risk of cance
> Discouraged by inadequate federal laws or enforcement, some localities have adopted their own laws governing product safety. In 2016, for example, Albany, New York enacted the "Toxic-Free Toys Act." More far-reaching than federal law, the Albany ordinanc
> Find out which retailers are selling Andrew & Williamson’s strawberries and whether other companies have signed on to the program. How would you evaluate its success?
> In 2014 GM recalled some 11.2 million vehicles sold in the United States for defective ignition switches, malfunctioning taillights, and sudden loss of steering because of improperly tightened parts. Research: Find out what happened at GM that led the ca
> Anton Yelchin got out of his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and walked down his driveway. The vehicle rolled down behind him, crushing the actor against a concrete-reinforced mailbox and killing him. The Jeep had been recalled only a month earlier, after dozen
> DDT is a cheap way to eliminate insects that threaten crops and people—including mosquitoes that spread malaria. Because it accumulates in the food chain and causes harm to humans and animals, its use has been banned in the United States since 1972. Howe
> Pokémon GO --an "augmented reality game" that allows users to move around the real world and capture small animations of the monster Pokémon, using the camera on a smart phone--was all the rage during summer 2016. One user slipped and fell into a ditch;
> Joshua Brown, a Navy veteran who loved technology and started his own consulting firm, was one of the first to buy a Tesla. According to preliminary reports from the NHTSA, Brown had been driving his Tesla in self-drive mode in May 2016 when a tractor-tr
> 1. Look at the Guidance published by the Department of Labor, which has no mention of "flexibility" as a factor to be considered. Which do you think offers a better test: Means and Seinerd or the administrator who wrote the DOL Guidance? Why? 2. How migh
> Find out about Samsung’s corporate culture. How might its culture have contributed to the problem with the Note 7?
> Fitbit users have complained that the activity tracker does not monitor heartbeats correctly during intensive exercise, and that its sleep tracking data is not accurate. What action might a user take?
> Since 1999, more than 165,000 people died of addiction to prescription drugs such as Oxy-Continan and Percocet. In 2008, Cephalon, Inc. pleaded guilty to aggressively marketing its powerful painkiller, the fentanyl lollipop Actiq to family practitioners
> The non-profit ProPublica produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Since 2010 it has been tracking drug company payments to doctors, using the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, which is part of the Affordable Care Act. This law requires al
> 1. What is a patent troll? Is there anything unethical about patent trolling? 2. The author points to problems created by over-patenting. What are they? What are the potential problems with an IPR system that does not provide enough protection for invent
> 1. What effect does the outcome of this case have on Redmond’s ability to earn a living? Should PepsiCo have to re-hire him? 2. Suppose PepsiCo had terminated Redmond before Quaker hired him. Do you think this case would be decided differently? Should it
> 1. How did Mattel’s aggressive use of intellectual property law help the company? What problems developed for Mattel as time went by? 2. What connections between intellectual property laws, desire, sex and commercial gain do the authors draw from the sto
> 1. Why does the First Amendment challenge fail? How is this case different from the Crazy Horse case in the Marketing Chapter? 2. Why does the plaintiff lose its argument under the Lanham Act? 3. Why the Redskins are still called the Redskins? What is t
> 1. Is there intellectual property at stake in this case? Explain. How might copyright law apply to this case? 2. What ethical arguments are involved? Which is more persuasive? 3. Every state has its own law regarding the right of publicity; some don't r
> 1. On what basis does the majority deny motions for summary judgment? Why does the dissent disagree? 2. Identify the various stakeholders in postings on You-Tube. Does the DMCA seem fair to each? 3. Under the DMCA, nonprofit educational service provider
> 1. What difference does categorizing the drivers make? 2. What argument can you make that Lyft drivers are independent contractors? That they are employees? 3. Uber began in San Francisco in 2009; by 2015, its drivers were in 50 countries around the worl
> 1. Why does Tenenbaum lose this case? Does the outcome seem fair? 2. The music industry asked the judge to prevent Tenenbaum from promoting illegal file sharing and the judge refused. Articulate an ethical analysis of Tenenbaum’s actions and of the music
> 1. How does a copyright holder prove that its rights have been violated? Did the plaintiff here meet that standard? 2. Were any parts of Atomic Dog copyrightable? Which ones? 3. Is there an ethical difference between Shakespeare’s use of Plutarch for Ro
> 1. What were the parties' obligations under the contract? How was defendant allegedly in breach of contract? 2. The UCC is statutory law in every state that governs transactions in goods in great detail. Other kinds of contracts must instead comply with
> 1. What does Sugar man mean by “performance-based regulation?” To what alternatives does he point? 2. Identify the pros and cons to each approach.
> 1. Why was this law adopted? Research: (a) Find out who sponsored and supported the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. (b) Who opposed it? (c) What efforts have been made to amend or repeat the law? 2. For each of the following cases, consider wh
> 1. Do an ethical analysis of Ford executives’ decision to move ahead with the design of the Pinto. Who are the stakeholders? What would a free market approach look like? A utilitarian? A deontological? 2. Compare Volkswagen's decision to cheat on emissio
> 1. Do you think standards to guide agency decisions on whether a GMO should be permitted to be released into the environment are needed? Why/ why not? 2. In November 2015 the FDA ruled that AquaBounty Technologies could market a genetically-engineered sa
> 1. In 2015 the American Medical Association called for a ban on DTC drug advertising. (a) Why? What does the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) have to say about this idea? (b) Would a ban on DTC advertising of prescription dru
> 1. Embedded advertisements in Youtube Kids. Research: How did the FTC respond? 2. In late 2015, the New York Times revealed that Coca Cola had spent $1.5 million in 2014 to support the Global Energy Balance Network, a nonprofit group made up of universit
> 1. Find out what consumer advocates think of CARU’s work. 2. Construct an ethical argument that advertising to children should be prohibited. Critique that argument again, using ethical tools. 3. What has the CBAI accomplished? How do critics assess its
> 1. Why would the plaintiff sue Uber instead of the driver? What legal arguments does the plaintiff make that would hold Uber responsible for the driver's assault? 2. In the District of Columbia, employers operating public businesses are generally "bound
> 1. In March 2016, eight years after it was filed, POM Wonderful $77 million Lanham Act lawsuit against Coca Cola finally ended in a California jury verdict. Research: What result? 2. Articulate the different ways in which Justice Kennedy views the Lanham
> 1. What are some of the factors that might make it easier for online scams like this one to succeed? What are some of the factors that might make them difficult to discover and prosecute? 2. Now that Robert and Robyn Held were found guilty of violating
> 1. What are the two assumptions of consumer demand theory as Galbraith explains it? How does Galbraith undermine those assumptions? 2. Galbraith says most economists sense "the damage to established ideas that lurks in these relationships." What does he
> 1. Find out how the Central Hudson test was applied in the following cases: (a) The city of Baltimore passed an ordinance banning billboard advertising of alcoholic beverages and cigarettes near schools and playgrounds. (b) The New York State Liquor Auth
> 1. How does the author distinguish between the traditional environmental movement and the environmental justice movement? How does she distinguish between the sustainability movement and the movement for food justice? 2. What similarities does the author
> 1. What are the two contrasting stories in this case? Do you think Lucas knew when he bought the land that by building on it he would soon be the owner of a “pig in a parlor”? 2. What two types of actions automatically trigger compensation? Why does the
> 1. Are there any similarities between how John Locke and Pope Francis view the relationship between human beings and their natural environment? Are there differences? 2. What similarities can you identify between Pope Francis’s statement and The Universa
> 1. What differences do you see between the Lockean view of nature and the views expressed in this document? 2. Find out what happened with the 2010 lawsuit a group of environmental activists brought against BP in Ecuador.
> 1. Explain the Pollinator Risk Assessment Framework as it functions in this case. What were the results in Tier 1 and how were they reached? What different analysis takes place at the Tier 2 level? What problems did the EPA detect here? How did the agenc
> 1. What does alt-labor mean? 2. What are some of the techniques being used to reach workers without the federally-protected right to form unions? By federal law? To keep them engaged with the process of fighting for their rights? 3. The domestic workers
> 1. How many years did Exxon spend supporting scientific analysis of climate change? What resources did it spend on this effort? How many years did the company then spend soft-pedaling the threat of climate change? What resources did it funnel in that dir
> 1. What were the three factors of analysis that the judge used to decide the standing issue? How were they resolved? Why did the judge permit the Due Process claim to survive dismissal? 2. In 2007, the Supreme Court decided that the EPA had the authorit
> 1. What are the positive and negative ways of viewing CSR reports? What is the “Achilles Heel” of CSR reporting? How might it be fixed? 2. How might a university benefit from joining the Workers Rights Consortium? 3. In the original Doe I. v. Wal-Mart ca
> 1. Look at the various legal bases for each of the plaintiffs’ claims. Why does the court find that each should be dismissed? 2. According to a young Californian, Costco sells prawns from Thailand from a supply chain that depends upon documented slavery,
> 1. Go to the website for the Workers Rights Consortium. What responsibility does such membership place on members? 2. Does your college or university belong to the Workers Rights Consortium or another similar group? How do the groups compare. 3. In what
> 1. What are the six indicators that a “cost” is actually a “harm,” where use of foreign labor is concerned? What does Shue mean by describing a harm as “unavoidably undetectable”? 2. Who is responsible for safe working conditions in US firms abroad?
> 1. Why do you think Dawn Brancheau was willing to risk her life to train killer whales? Assuming she had a complete grasp of the risks involved, is it ethical to interact with whales as she did? For this, use the frameworks for ethical decision-making in
> 1. What challenges to OSHA does Michaels highlight? How is OSHA trying to address them? 2. Elsewhere in his testimony, Michaels argued for increasing the monetary penalties--raised only once in 40 years--and enhancing criminal sanctions. The 2015 Budget
> 1. Why does the US treat agricultural workers differently? Who are the stakeholders? Consider it from the perspective of free market theory, utilitarianism and deontology. Research: Find out about current debates involving U.S. farmworker health and safe
> 1. How do Hershey’s alleged wrongs harm the plaintiffs in this case? 2. What evidence do the plaintiffs provide to support their claim that they have a right to investigate the corporate records? 3. Plaintiffs allege that Hershey directors may have viola
> 1. What are the primary market forces favoring the growth of benefit corporations? 2. How are traditional corporations and benefit corporations similar? What are the main differences between them? 3. Find a company that has been certified by B Lab. What
> 1. “Gender norms” that keep women down. 2. This report was published in 2013. Has anything happened since to address the issues raised by it? Has the United Nations been involved? The U.S. government? Civil society?
> 1. What rules does Justice Kennedy say Bakke, Grutter and Gratz set forth? Why would Justice Thomas not “take them as given?” 2. U.T. uses a multi-step admissions process under which each applicant is ranked from 1-6 based on essays and a "full-file revi
> 1. If you had been on Hazleton’s City Council, would you have voted for or against this ordinance? Why? 2. Find out if your state or municipality has recently adopted any immigration laws. What are they? 3. Should undocumented immigrants be protected by
> 1. Is the FMLA well-crafted to respond to congressional findings? 2. FMLA policy and Windsor. 3. Does Congress address any stereotypes about caregivers in the FMLA? How responsive is the law to changes in our ideas about family? Who benefits from the law
> 1. How does Philadelphia Police Directive 78 differ from the “No beards” policy at issue in the Fraternal Order of Police case? Why is that difference legally significant? Does it seem ethically distinguishable to you? Why or why not? 2. You are the hea
> 1. According to Spector, people of color have been in the forefront of the "growing resistance to substandard working conditions"--from the Justice for Janitors campaign in the 1990s to more recent strikes by fast-food workers and domestic worker organiz
> 1. What does “pretextual” mean? How does Judge Robertson, who heard the evidence at trial, explain that the reasons given by the Library for not hiring Diane Schroer were pretextual? 2. What similarities does Robertson see between the Price Waterhouse ca
> 1. Identify the different stakeholders in this class action. Identify the interests each would have. What would a utilitarian analysis of the settlement look like? A deontological analysis? 2. Why does the majority judge view the settlement as fair? Why
> 1. Which judge gives the statute a “broad” reading, the other gives it a “narrow” one? Which is which? What tools do the two judges use to interpret the law? Which interpretation do you think is most in keeping with the intent of the legislators? 2. What
> 1. What are the functions of privacy, as described by Westin? For each, can you think of examples from your own experience? 2. Which functions of privacy may have been served by Nurse Ehling's Facebook posting? 3. Ethics of privacy in Smyth v. Pillsbury?
> 1. What are the primary arguments advanced by Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority, against the reasoning of the Austin case and against the restrictions of BCRA? What arguments does the dissent use in defending BCRA? 2. Summarize the differing view
> 1. Do you think Ronco did the right thing in sharing Nurse Ehling's wall posts with his supervisor? Once MONOC had access to the postings, do you think it did the right thing? 2. How did Judge Martini resolve Ehling's Stored Communication Act claim? Her
> 1. What are the advantages for the whistleblower to report internally as opposed to externally? To the organization? 2. According to the authors, what are the problems with organizational hotlines or “open-door” policies? 3. Under what circumstances do
> 1. What is civil society? What are the benefits of a thriving civil society? 2. What are the three main pillars of Public Service Motivation? 3. In explaining why public employees are more politically involved and more likely to vote than other employees
> 1. Where public employee speech is found to be pursuant to official duties, it lacks First Amendment protection. How does the majority argue in favor of this new requirement? What arguments do dissenters make for alternative methods of analysis? 2. What
> 1. According to the writer, a change in our law – a new duty to rescue – might change the way people think, heighten their awareness of one another as members of a community, and lead them to be more responsive to one another. Do you think law can have s
> 1. What happened in this case? If Yania couldn’t swim, then why did he jump? 2. Identify each of the arguments made by Yania's widow. For each, explain how the judge dealt with it. 3. According to the judge, Bigan would have been liable in this case und
> a. Do you agree with the author that there are significant downsides to this time of “The Great Privacy Give Away?” Explain. b. Consider the example of Congressman Weiner. Using the author’s arguments, how did his self-disclosures go against deontology?
> 1. Violated GINA scenarios? a. Predictive cancer gene: b. Family cancer: c. Medical leave documentation: d. Obituary: e. Drilling company and toxic chemicals: f. Mandated testing: 2. Fabricut and GINA 3. Discovering the identities of those in the Human
> Domestic workers who clean house and care for children, the elderly and disabled in private homes are among the most poorly paid American workers. Some 95 percent of them are women; 46 percent are immigrants. Research: Find out what efforts are being mad
> When Stephen Morris and Kelly McDaniel went to work for Ernst & Young they were required to sign agreements not to join with other employees in bringing legal claims against the company. Instead, they agreed to pursue any legal claims through individual
> Should NCAA players be allowed to organize and bargain collectively? Do you see any differences between basketball and football players at Division I schools like Ohio State University and the University of Alabama, and students who play on women's volle
> The FLSA exempts from its minimum wage/maximum hours laws people who provide "companionship services" (babysitters) and those who live in a home where they care for the elderly, ill, or disabled. According to a 2013 DOL regulation, this exemption would n
> In 2015, Abercrombie and Fitch stopped requiring workers to be on call for shifts that were frequently cancelled with little notice. Still, the New York Times reported in August of 2015 that the state attorney general was investigating 13 larger retailer
> 1. What is the legal basis of the challenge to the Idaho law? 2. Break down the judge’s analysis of Idaho’s challenge: (a) Does the Idaho law outlaw speech based on its content? (b) Was there a compelling reason for the law’s passage? Why/why not? (c) Wh
> Retailers that rely on software to track the flow of customers have been criticized for using that data to schedule their employees in uneven and unpredictable ways. Responding to public pressure, in 2014 Starbucks announced that it was revising the way
> Task Rabbit allows potential clients to post a job request and be matched with workers ("task rabbits") who are able and willing to do the job. Upwork is similar—but the projects are computer-based. Suppose Andi uses Upwork to accept a job creating a web
> In August 2016 Arizona became the first in the nation to pass a "Declaration of Independent Business Status," allowing, but not requiring, independent contractors to sign a statement acknowledging that they operate an independent business, are not entitl
> In 1998, Coca-Cola held a contest inviting high-school students to devise promotional ideas for the company. A prize of $500 would go to the school with the best PR strategy. Greenbriar High in Evans, Georgia, was the winner. On “Coke Day,” students were
> What role should advertisers play in reflecting and supporting a more inclusive society? (a) According to the 2010 census, mixed race marriages have grown by 28 percent over a decade, and a 2012 Pew Research study reveals that almost two-thirds of Ameri
> Will shoppers pay more for products that are marketed as sustainable, or manufactured in ways that are aligned with certain labor and social measurements? Recently, major clothing manufacturers have suffered considerable negative media exposure associate
> According to Pew Research, in 2011 the pharmaceutical industry spent more than $25 billion marketing to physicians. But at this point one in five doctors will not see pharmaceutical sales representatives in their offices, and the industry has turned to n
> In April 2016 Prevention Magazine announced that it would no longer take ads. Although in the traditional print magazine, advertisements are the lifeblood, Prevention anticipates saving money with this move, as it can cut its sales staff. The price of th
> What kind of legal challenge would each of these situations give rise to? Research: Find out what happened in each. (a) Uber ads state that its services are 30 percent cheaper than taxis. An Uber rider claims this is not true, and that the company fails
> In August 2015, Kim Kardashian posted to Instagram “OMG. Have you heard about this?” Pregnant herself at the time, she went on to enthusiastically recommend to her tens of millions of followers the drug Diclegis for morning sickness. What legal actions m
> 1. Who funds ALEC? What is its operating budget? What is its stated philosophy? What other legislative templates has ALEC drafted? 2. Who funds GAP? What is its operating budget? What is its stated philosophy? What kinds of initiatives is GAP now pursuin
> In 2012 the FTC laid out revised “green guides,” rules for claims that a product or process benefits the environment. These rules state that any organization issuing green certifications must be independent, and must disclose any “material connection” to
> In the spring of 2015, an ad posted throughout the London subway system created controversy. Designed to sell dietary supplements, it showed a very young, very thin model in a bright yellow bikini looking sexily at passengers, with the tag line, “Are you
