Part 1
Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible. Clearly state the ethical issue.
- Chetan owns a business and uses neem trees which are used for everything
- Neem industry provides employment for the poorest people
- Chetan has a seven generation history in this industry
- 60 people employed
- Neem – Chetan doesn’t know its formal name (Azadirchta indica), indigenous to India
- medicinal purposes, food production, toiletries, fuel, and pesticides
- Ten years ago, Tom Johnson, the Director of T (OOPS) travelled to India on vacation and discovered the neem seeds’ use as a potent pesticide
- Tom got a patent for the products
The ethical dilemma: Is it okay for OOPS to charge people in India royaltees on the patent even though they have been using the technology for decades prior.
Step 2 and 3: Define the Stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome and their motivations
- Chetan
- Doesn’t want to pay the royaltees
- Feels he owns the Neem products more than OOPS
- Keep his tradition and culture alive
- People in india employed in Neem products
- Want to keep their jobs and maintain a salary
- Tom Johnson (OOPS)
- Make money
- Tap into market in India
- Neem product customers
- Want to keep sacred neem
- Want to stay at the same cost or lower
- Chetan’s family
- Want to keep in family to provide for them
What rights does Chetan have and is it ethical for the US company to uphold their patent rights?
So, is this moral? No. Is this ethical? That’s the bigger question.
Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on the information available, using basic ethical core values as a guide
- Virtue based thinking. In a better world Tom Johnson would realize that although he has a patent on Neem products the ideas existed in oral tradition in other cultures and he shouldn’t own them. In this world he would avoid parts of the world where Neem products existed already.
- There should be a way for Tom Johnson to profit off of all the knowledge that Chetan and his company has about Neem products. They could collaborate and both profit from what the other has to offer.
- Another way to keep everyone happy is for Tom Johnson to buy Chetan’s company but leave him in a management position and keep all his workers employed.
Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – engineering codes of ethics, previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection
Theoretically Chetan can fight the patent because there shouldn’t be a patent on a naturally occurring thing, only on the process to make it. Additionally one could argue that any paperwork Chetan has regarding his business that outdated Tom’s patent can prove that Tom doesn’t own the idea. This would allow Chetan to fight the patent. From inside knowledge we know that getting into legal battles about these nit pick-y things takes time and money that Chetan’s and his employee’s don’t have. In the meantime they need another solution.
Step 6: Select the best course of action – that which satisfies the highest core ethical values. Explain reasoning and justify. Discuss your stance vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in the class.
In the best course of action Tom Johnson would realize that ideas and knowledge exist outside the culture he is familiar with. It is not ethical from him to charge people for knowledge that has been theirs for decades. He should avoid all areas where using Neem products is part of the culture. Additionally if Mr. Johson recognizes this he could look into partnering with Chetan and trying to better both of the businesses.
I say it is unethical because patent law unfairly favors european cultures who write things down and file for patents. Just because the tradition is oral and engrained in a culture does not mean it doesn’t really exist, far from it, however, in the eyes of the law this doesn’t matter. Yet ethically, it should.
Step 7: (If applicable) What are the implications of your solution on the venture. Explain the impact of your proposed solution on the venture’s technology, economic, social and environmental aspects.
In this course of action everyone should go away happy. Chetan can continue his business and Tom Johnson will be able to sleep at night knowing he is doing the right thing. Tom Johnson is theoretically losing some economic profit, however, as discussed above this market is not his to own. Technologically both business’ will be better off for partnering because they have an imbalance in resources (Tom Johnson having much more) and understanding about the product (Chetan’s company has worked with this product for decades). Socially speaking Tom Johnson would stop being a monster and Chetan’s company would continue so everyone would be much better off.
Part two
Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible. Clearly state the ethical issue.
- Chetan owns a business and uses neem trees which are used for everything
- Neem industry provides employment for the poorest people
- Chetan has a seven generation history in this industry
- 60 people employed
- Neem – Chetan doesn’t know its formal name (Azadirchta indica), indigenous to India
- medicinal purposes, food production, toiletries, fuel, and pesticides
- Ten years ago, Tom Johnson, the Director of Oregon Organic Pesticide Services (OOPS) travelled to India on vacation and discovered the neem seeds’ use as a potent pesticide
- Tom got a patent for the products
The ethical dilemma: Is it okay for OOPS to charge people in India royaltees on the patent even though they have been using the technology for years prior.
Step 2: Define the Stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome
- Chetan
- Tom Johnson (OOPS)
- Neem product customers
- Chetan’s family
- Previous employers of Chetan for products
Step 3: Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders.
- Chetan
- Personal: Make sure all his valued employee’s stay employed, not lose his family’s way of life
- Professional: keep his business open, not lose money
- Tom Johnson (OOPS)
- Personal: At this point we know he doesn’t care about the ethicacy of his business
- Professional: Make money
- Neem product customers
- Personal: Use products they trust and have been using their entire lives
- Chetan’s family
- Personal: Keep valued business within their family
- Professional: Keep making money
- Chetan’s employees/ everyone already employed in the Neem industry
- Personal: Want to keep their jobs and support their families
- Professional: similar, keep their jobs.
Step 4 solutions(3):
- Collaborate with Tom’s OOPS company to get the original employees jobs there
- Who saves face?
- Chetan saves face because he is able to give his employees jobs but he might not be able to get a job and he will lose the business that he has worked so hard for. Employee’s may view this as Chetan selling out and abandoning them
- Offer severance package to employees
- Who saves face?
- Chetan somewhat saves face because he gives them the money that they need to survive until they are able to find another job but the employees might still be mad about this and could still cause problems for him. He would probably still view himself as a failure.
- Sell company out to OOPS, use the money to pay severance
- Who saves face?
- Chetan but same problems as both of the above things
- Fight to join the corporation and take whatever losses happen, accept you have to fire some people
- Who saves face?
- Chetan does have to sell out to OOPS but he sort of can retain ownership of his “branch” of the company. He and his employees both stay hired so they kind of all win. But only kind of. OPPS is still evil.
- Fight the patent. Sue for the oral tradition and culture showing they already knew what Tom owns the patent for.
- Who saves face?
- Nobody but really who cares because OOPS is the bad guy here.
Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection
It’s hard to believe that OOPS would collaborate with Chetan but maybe Chetan can make it worth their while because they know so much about Neem products.
Personally I have no faith in big corporations. However, I have even less faith in the global legal system. I think there is little to no chance that Chetan could get OOPS to stop operating in India before it is already too late to save anything. For this reason I think they must partner with OPPS to save their company.
Step 6: Select the best course of action – that solves the problem, saves face and has the best short term and long-term implications for your relationship and venture. Explain reasoning and discuss your solution vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in class.
Collaborate with Tom so that Chetan and his employees can keep their jobs if not their company. They have no chance of fighting the patent. And everyone needs to make a living to live to it is either join with Tom or don’t join with Tom and either way Tom owns the Neem industry everywhere. At least now they keep their jobs.
Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution.
Chetan is going to have to really schmooze Tom Johnson to make this happen. He will have to prove that he offers knowledge that would take Tom ages to discover himself. Additionally Chetan could consider pitching the idea above Tom’s head if he really proves to be that much of a problem. After this happens Chetan will have to be willing to relinquish control of some aspects of his company and probably have to allow his operations to be overseen by some evil OOPS overlord.
