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fandomhigh2006-03-14 08:04 pm
msgilmoredanes.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-03-14 08:04 pm
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Business Classes
Business Law - Period One
"I hope you all enjoyed your spring breaks," Lorelai greeted the class after they entered. "We're going to learn about intellectual property today."
Intellectual property (IP) refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. This legal entitlement generally enables its holder to exercise exclusive rights of use in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The term intellectual property reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the mind or the intellect, and that IP rights may be protected at law in the same way as any other form of property.
Intellectual property laws are territorial such that the registration or enforcement of IP rights must be pursued separately in each jurisdiction of interest. However, these laws are becoming increasingly harmonised through the effects of international treaties such as the 1994 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), while other treaties may facilitate registration in more than one jurisdiction at a time. This global harmonisation of intellectual property legislation under the WTO has been criticized, for example by the alter-globalization movement.
Overview
Intellectual property laws confer a bundle of exclusive rights in relation to the particular form or manner in which ideas or information are expressed or manifested, and not in relation to the ideas or concepts themselves (see idea-expression divide). It is therefore important to note that the term "intellectual property" denotes the specific legal rights which authors, inventors and other IP holders may hold and exercise, and not the intellectual work itself.
Intellectual property laws are designed to protect different forms of intangible subject matter, although in some cases there is a degree of overlap.
* copyright may subsist in creative and artistic works (eg. books, movies, music, paintings, photographs and software), giving a copyright holder the exclusive right to control reproduction or adaptation of such works for a certain period of time.
* A patent may be granted in relation to an invention that is new, useful and not simply an obvious advancement over what existed when the application was filed. A patent gives the holder an exclusive right to commercially exploit the invention for a certain period of time (typically 20 years from the filing date of a patent application).
* A trademark is a distinctive sign which is used to distinguish the products or services of one business from those of another business.
* An industrial design right protects the form of appearance, style or design of an industrial object (eg. spare parts, furniture or textiles).
* A trade secret (also known as "confidential information") is an item of confidential information concerning the commercial practices or proprietary knowledge of a business.
Patents, trademarks and designs fall into a particular subset of intellectual property known as industrial property.
Like other forms of property, intellectual property (or rather the exclusive rights which subsist in the IP) can be transferred (with or without consideration) or licensed to third parties. In some jurisdictions it may also be possible to use intellectual property as security for a loan.
Controversy
The basic public policy rationale for the protection of intellectual property is that IP laws facilitate and encourage the pursuit and disclosure of innovation into the public domain for the common good, by granting authors and inventors exclusive rights to exploit their works and invention for a limited period.
However, various schools of thought are critical of the very concept of intellectual property, and some characterise IP as intellectual protectionism. There is ongoing debate as to whether IP laws truly operate to confer the stated public benefits, and whether the protection they are said to provide is appropriate in the context of innovation derived from such things as traditional knowledge and folklore, and patents for software and business methods. Manifestations of this controversy can be seen in the way different jurisdictions decide whether to grant intellectual property protection in relation to subject matter of this kind, and the North-South divide on issues of the role and scope of intellectual property laws.
"For homework, I want you to write 100 words on one of the following types of intellectual property."
Types of intellectual property
* Copyright
* Geographical indication
* Industrial design rights
* IP blocks used in electronic design
* Moral rights
* Patent
* Personality rights
* Plant breeders' rights
* Trade dress
* Trademark
* Trade secret
* Traditional knowledge
* Domain Name
[lecture & links to homework info are here]
Human Resource Management - Period Six
Lorelai might just be a tiny bit bouncier than she was this morning after her conversation with Dr. Grissom. "Good afternoon," she greets the class. "I trust that you all had a restful break. We're going to switch things up a little andlearn about something the mun knows talk about organizations that ensure employers provide safe and friendly working environments."
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created by Congress under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon,on December 29, 1970. Its mission is to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths by issuing and enforcing rules (called standards) for workplace safety and health. This same act also created the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a research agency whose purpose is to determine the major types of hazards in the workplace and ways of controlling them. As of January 2006, the agency is headed by Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jonathan Snare.
OSHA's statutory authority extends to most nongovernmental workplaces where there are employees. State and local government workers are excluded from Federal coverage, however, states operating their own state workplace safety and health programs under plans approved by the U.S. Department of Labor cover most private sector workers and are also required to extend their coverage to public sector (state and local government) workers in the state. Section 2 (11) of the OSH Act encourages states to develop and operate their own state OSH programs.
OSHA regulations [29 CFR Part 1956] also permit states without approved plans to develop plans that cover only public sector workers. In these states, private sector employment remains under Federal OSHA jurisdiction. Twenty-two states and territories operate plans covering both the public and private sectors and four states - Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and the Virgin Islands - operate public employee only plans.
OSHA was widely criticized in its early years for confusing, burdensome regulations. A good deal of the early conflict came about because of arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement during OSHA's early years. In addition, businesses were expected to retrofit guards and other safety devices on existing equipment and to implement other hazard controls, often at considerable expense, to bring them in line with then-current best safety practices. Other requirements of effective safety programs, such as training, communication, and documentation were seen as even more difficult and expensive.
With time, manufacturers of industrial equipment have included OSHA-compliant safety features on new machinery. Enforcement has become more consistent across jurisdictions, and some of the more outdated or irrelevant rules have been repealed or are not enforced.
During the Carter administration, OSHA, under the leadership of University of Cincinnati toxicologist Eula Bingham, began to concentrate more on health hazards, such as toxic chemicals. With the Reagan and Bush I administration came efforts to weaken OSHA enforcement and rulemaking, although several important rules were issued including hazard communication (right to know about chemical exposures) and blood-borne pathogens (to protect workers against illnesses such as hepatitis and AIDS).
The Clinton administration began a reorganization of OSHA's approach, focusing more on "stakeholder" satisfaction through compliance assistance. When the Republicans took over Congress in 1994, one of their goals was weakening some of the agency's ability to issue standards. Republican bills were stopped by the Democratic minority and moderate Republicans, but other legislation passed such as the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 and the Congressional Review Act.
In 2000, OSHA issued the ergonomics standard after ten years of study and struggles with a Republican-controlled Congress that was unconvinced that additional government regulation was the right way to address the issue of ergonomic injuries to American workers. Ergonomic injuries (also known as musculoskeletal injuries) such as back injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome, account for 1/3 of all serious injuries suffered by American workers. The Republican-controlled Congress repealed the standard in March 2001 and the repeal bill was one of the first major pieces of legislation signed by the newly elected George W. Bush. Since the repeal of the bill OSHA has issued several ergonomics guidelines and has continued to cite employers for alleged ergonomic violations under the Act's "general duty" clause, although the agency has issued fewer than twenty general duty ergonomics citation in the first five years of the Bush administration.
The Bush administration has largely replaced the process of issuing mandatory regulations with voluntary guidelines and put additional resources into other, previously existing voluntary programs, as well as new "Allinace" program. In 2004, the General Accounting Office issued a report questioning the effectiveness of these programs and warning that their planned growth threatened to take resources away from OSHA's enforcement budget.
OSHA has come under considerable criticism for the ineffectiveness of its penalties. Under the Bush administration, OSHA, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, has pursued several high-profile criminal prosecutions for violations under the Act, and has announced a joint enforcement initiative between OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow OSHA to assist EPA in pursuing violations of federal environmental laws. EPA is able to issue much higher penalties than OSHA.
The real debate about OSHA regulations and enforcement policies revolves around the cost of regulations and enforcement, versus the actual benefit in reduced worker injury, illness and death.
"For homework, I want you to write 100 words on one of the changes in industrial safety that OSHA has implemented."
[lecture & links to homework info are here.]
"I hope you all enjoyed your spring breaks," Lorelai greeted the class after they entered. "We're going to learn about intellectual property today."
Intellectual property (IP) refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. This legal entitlement generally enables its holder to exercise exclusive rights of use in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The term intellectual property reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the mind or the intellect, and that IP rights may be protected at law in the same way as any other form of property.
Intellectual property laws are territorial such that the registration or enforcement of IP rights must be pursued separately in each jurisdiction of interest. However, these laws are becoming increasingly harmonised through the effects of international treaties such as the 1994 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), while other treaties may facilitate registration in more than one jurisdiction at a time. This global harmonisation of intellectual property legislation under the WTO has been criticized, for example by the alter-globalization movement.
Overview
Intellectual property laws confer a bundle of exclusive rights in relation to the particular form or manner in which ideas or information are expressed or manifested, and not in relation to the ideas or concepts themselves (see idea-expression divide). It is therefore important to note that the term "intellectual property" denotes the specific legal rights which authors, inventors and other IP holders may hold and exercise, and not the intellectual work itself.
Intellectual property laws are designed to protect different forms of intangible subject matter, although in some cases there is a degree of overlap.
* copyright may subsist in creative and artistic works (eg. books, movies, music, paintings, photographs and software), giving a copyright holder the exclusive right to control reproduction or adaptation of such works for a certain period of time.
* A patent may be granted in relation to an invention that is new, useful and not simply an obvious advancement over what existed when the application was filed. A patent gives the holder an exclusive right to commercially exploit the invention for a certain period of time (typically 20 years from the filing date of a patent application).
* A trademark is a distinctive sign which is used to distinguish the products or services of one business from those of another business.
* An industrial design right protects the form of appearance, style or design of an industrial object (eg. spare parts, furniture or textiles).
* A trade secret (also known as "confidential information") is an item of confidential information concerning the commercial practices or proprietary knowledge of a business.
Patents, trademarks and designs fall into a particular subset of intellectual property known as industrial property.
Like other forms of property, intellectual property (or rather the exclusive rights which subsist in the IP) can be transferred (with or without consideration) or licensed to third parties. In some jurisdictions it may also be possible to use intellectual property as security for a loan.
Controversy
The basic public policy rationale for the protection of intellectual property is that IP laws facilitate and encourage the pursuit and disclosure of innovation into the public domain for the common good, by granting authors and inventors exclusive rights to exploit their works and invention for a limited period.
However, various schools of thought are critical of the very concept of intellectual property, and some characterise IP as intellectual protectionism. There is ongoing debate as to whether IP laws truly operate to confer the stated public benefits, and whether the protection they are said to provide is appropriate in the context of innovation derived from such things as traditional knowledge and folklore, and patents for software and business methods. Manifestations of this controversy can be seen in the way different jurisdictions decide whether to grant intellectual property protection in relation to subject matter of this kind, and the North-South divide on issues of the role and scope of intellectual property laws.
"For homework, I want you to write 100 words on one of the following types of intellectual property."
Types of intellectual property
* Copyright
* Geographical indication
* Industrial design rights
* IP blocks used in electronic design
* Moral rights
* Patent
* Personality rights
* Plant breeders' rights
* Trade dress
* Trademark
* Trade secret
* Traditional knowledge
* Domain Name
[lecture & links to homework info are here]
Human Resource Management - Period Six
Lorelai might just be a tiny bit bouncier than she was this morning after her conversation with Dr. Grissom. "Good afternoon," she greets the class. "I trust that you all had a restful break. We're going to switch things up a little and
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created by Congress under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon,on December 29, 1970. Its mission is to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths by issuing and enforcing rules (called standards) for workplace safety and health. This same act also created the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a research agency whose purpose is to determine the major types of hazards in the workplace and ways of controlling them. As of January 2006, the agency is headed by Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jonathan Snare.
OSHA's statutory authority extends to most nongovernmental workplaces where there are employees. State and local government workers are excluded from Federal coverage, however, states operating their own state workplace safety and health programs under plans approved by the U.S. Department of Labor cover most private sector workers and are also required to extend their coverage to public sector (state and local government) workers in the state. Section 2 (11) of the OSH Act encourages states to develop and operate their own state OSH programs.
OSHA regulations [29 CFR Part 1956] also permit states without approved plans to develop plans that cover only public sector workers. In these states, private sector employment remains under Federal OSHA jurisdiction. Twenty-two states and territories operate plans covering both the public and private sectors and four states - Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and the Virgin Islands - operate public employee only plans.
OSHA was widely criticized in its early years for confusing, burdensome regulations. A good deal of the early conflict came about because of arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement during OSHA's early years. In addition, businesses were expected to retrofit guards and other safety devices on existing equipment and to implement other hazard controls, often at considerable expense, to bring them in line with then-current best safety practices. Other requirements of effective safety programs, such as training, communication, and documentation were seen as even more difficult and expensive.
With time, manufacturers of industrial equipment have included OSHA-compliant safety features on new machinery. Enforcement has become more consistent across jurisdictions, and some of the more outdated or irrelevant rules have been repealed or are not enforced.
During the Carter administration, OSHA, under the leadership of University of Cincinnati toxicologist Eula Bingham, began to concentrate more on health hazards, such as toxic chemicals. With the Reagan and Bush I administration came efforts to weaken OSHA enforcement and rulemaking, although several important rules were issued including hazard communication (right to know about chemical exposures) and blood-borne pathogens (to protect workers against illnesses such as hepatitis and AIDS).
The Clinton administration began a reorganization of OSHA's approach, focusing more on "stakeholder" satisfaction through compliance assistance. When the Republicans took over Congress in 1994, one of their goals was weakening some of the agency's ability to issue standards. Republican bills were stopped by the Democratic minority and moderate Republicans, but other legislation passed such as the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 and the Congressional Review Act.
In 2000, OSHA issued the ergonomics standard after ten years of study and struggles with a Republican-controlled Congress that was unconvinced that additional government regulation was the right way to address the issue of ergonomic injuries to American workers. Ergonomic injuries (also known as musculoskeletal injuries) such as back injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome, account for 1/3 of all serious injuries suffered by American workers. The Republican-controlled Congress repealed the standard in March 2001 and the repeal bill was one of the first major pieces of legislation signed by the newly elected George W. Bush. Since the repeal of the bill OSHA has issued several ergonomics guidelines and has continued to cite employers for alleged ergonomic violations under the Act's "general duty" clause, although the agency has issued fewer than twenty general duty ergonomics citation in the first five years of the Bush administration.
The Bush administration has largely replaced the process of issuing mandatory regulations with voluntary guidelines and put additional resources into other, previously existing voluntary programs, as well as new "Allinace" program. In 2004, the General Accounting Office issued a report questioning the effectiveness of these programs and warning that their planned growth threatened to take resources away from OSHA's enforcement budget.
OSHA has come under considerable criticism for the ineffectiveness of its penalties. Under the Bush administration, OSHA, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, has pursued several high-profile criminal prosecutions for violations under the Act, and has announced a joint enforcement initiative between OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow OSHA to assist EPA in pursuing violations of federal environmental laws. EPA is able to issue much higher penalties than OSHA.
The real debate about OSHA regulations and enforcement policies revolves around the cost of regulations and enforcement, versus the actual benefit in reduced worker injury, illness and death.
"For homework, I want you to write 100 words on one of the changes in industrial safety that OSHA has implemented."
[lecture & links to homework info are here.]