Ethics And Intellectual Property: Ethics And Intellectual Property

ETHICS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 2

Ethics and Intellectual Property

Intellectual property abounds in our society, it is the direct result of the expression of an idea or other intangible material (Zuber, 2014). Our laws provide rights which are specific to the owner of the intellectual property. Furthermore, intellectual property is protected by laws just like tangible property is protected (Lau & Johnson, 2014). The most widely known forms of intellectual property rights include: trade secrets for confidential information, patents for a process/invention, copyrights for creative items and trademarks for brands (Lau & Johnson, 2014). While these rights may appear very defined, there are times when questions

However, trying to determined when the story became part of the public-domain is difficult to say the least. What is unethical about the work of the researchers is that it appears they did not explain to the Bushman the impact of allowing the researchers to write their story. For the researchers to make a society’s history no longer their own is highly unethical. The Bushman believe the researchers stole their knowledge and did not treat them with the respect they are due. The Bushman believe that their knowledge was taken in an unethical manner (Tomanselli,

Unfortunately, people tend to not think of their personal history as property and in the case of the Bushman they lacked the savvy to understand what was occurring by their sharing their oral history. In our society, individuals must consider the ramifications of what can occur if they chose to share intellectual knowledge with others, even with researchers. Once ownership is lost, individuals no longer control any aspect of information which may be very dear to them whereas the copyright owner can exploit the material in any way they