Journal Entry

611 Words2 Pages

Week Two Intellectual property – including trade secrets, patents, copyrights and trademarks, are a key component in my business. Clients consult us and hire us to promote their products and services. Information regarding new products, unique formulas and other trade secrets are entrusted to us and many clients require the agency to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to protect their proprietary information. Our employees are also bound by this non-disclosure agreement – even if they would leave the company. Clients must feel their information is safe, protected and respected. When I worked at The Hershey Company, vendors were required to sign an NDA before even talking to employees about their services. This protected the employee from inadvertently sharing too much during a meeting and allowed the vendors to fully assess our needs and offer a proposal of their services that addressed specific needs. Interestingly, the Hershey NDA Hershey required was a one-way document. Many vendors requested Hershey to sign a reciprocal NDA and/or make changes or amendments to the document. In my three years at Hershey, every request for a reciprocal NDA was declined and I only saw one change approved by the legal department. Trademarks are also an important part of the day-to-day operations of my business. Special consideration to the appropriate use of trademarks and copyrights is needed when creating advertising and articles for publication in print and online. If hired to create a logo or corporate identity, our agency must make sure that a trademark is “sufficiently distinct to enable consumers to identify the manufacture of the goods easily and distinguish between those goods and competing products” (Clarkson, Miller, & Cr... ... middle of paper ... ... wire fraud. Of course, any organization that accepts payment is open to embezzlement by a ‘resourceful’ accountant or accounts receivables employee. While there is no way to prevent any of these crimes entirely, leading by an ethical example without a sliding scale sets a precedence that any unethical, let alone illegal, act will not be tolerated. As mentioned, background checks and pre-employment agreements would also assist in reducing any illegal acts. Regular ethical training, I believe is necessary to deter the “I didn’t know” excuse on illegal or ethical behavior. New employees should be reviewed after 30 days, 90 days and then on an annual basis – unless there are behavioral or performance-related issued requiring follow-up. Works Cited Clarkson, K. W., Miller, R. L., & Cross, F. B. (2012). Business Law: Text & Cases (12 ed.). Mason, Ohio: Cengage.

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