Intellectual Property: The Patents :: Intellectual Property Patent Papers

Intellectual Property: The Patents Introduction While an ethical analysis in intellectual property may not be as interesting as the ethical analysis in human genetics, such as in human cloning, patents are the most relevant in the area of high technology, which is the most important industry in the Silicon Valley and arguably, becoming one of the most powerful engines in the growth of the U.S. economy. In fact, intellectual property, a once very sleepy and very boring subject, is one of the hottest topics of conversations today in the high technology industry. Background The growing importance of patents has fueled the tremendous growth of new patents being issued annually in the past several years and currently accelerating even faster. Many concerns have been raised about new patent ideas such as new business methods and other abstract concepts. Two examples of these business method patents are the â€Å"One-Click† checkout and payment Internet technology patented by Amazon.com, an Internet commerce company, and the â€Å"Reverse Auction† Internet technology patented by Priceline.com, an Internet based travel agent. Many argue that business methods are discoveries and not true inventions. â€Å"We discover what before existed, though to us unknown; we invent what did not exist before.†1 Patents have become one of the greatest competitive assets to ensure the future of the business and as business tools to map trends and convergences, innovates new strategies and capabilities of partners and competitors, and improve all business units in the corporation. Patents have become critical in determining the winners and losers in business competition. Business Issues Patents have also become strategic assets and competitive weapon of enormous value. Patents have become the bargaining chips for companies in negotiations with other companies to gain competitive advantage by gaining access to needed technologies by cross-licensing its patents with partners and competitors. As businesses began to discover, the power of patents can no longer be ignored in business competitions as the importance of new ideas and innovations have overshadowed market position and tangible assets such as real estate and raw materials to achieve competitive goals. Patents have become critical in the business battlefield  ­Ã‚ ­Ã¢â‚¬â€ the â€Å"smart bombs† of tomorrow’s business wars2 — in addition to the traditional sales increase to expand market share. Patents are the tools that every company needs in the business battlefield to capture and defend its market share, stay ahead of the competition, increase revenues, and to be successful in their respective business segments.

Work Measurement

The purpose of work measurement is to determine the time it ought to take to do a job. The problem is in the definition of â€Å"ought to. † Work measurement analyst define this as the time it should take an experienced and well-trained operator to perform the job in a specific and well-defined method at a speed that can be maintained all day, day after day, without undue fatigue. This time, called standard time, can be divided into several parts: the actual elements used to perform the job; the rating factor used to determine the â€Å"normal† pace of these elements (the method used to determine the â€Å"ought to† time); and an allowance for personal time, unavoidable delays, and slowing due to fatigue. There are four main systems of work measurement. First, and most used, is time study, specifically, stop-watch time study. Motion picture and video cameras, computers, and various production timing devices can also be used in the place of, and in conjunction with, the stop watch. The second system, work sampling, is a statistical procedure for measuring work and requires an understanding of the techniques of statistics and probability. The third system, predetermined time systems (PDT), uses sets of tables of basic motions that have already been â€Å"normalized† by experts. Thus, PDT systems do not require the analyst to â€Å"rate† or â€Å"level† the measurement. Finally, there is the standard data system of work measurement which, strictly speaking, is not a measurement technique at all. Here similar elements made up of similar groups of motions from the other measurement systems are tabled and then reused as needed for subsequent products and standards. USES OF WORK MEASUREMENT Work measurement is used to determine standards against which comparisons can be made for a variety of purposes. 1. Wage incentives. If workers are to be paid in accordance with the amount of work accomplished rather than the amount of time expended (hourly), some means of determining an acceptable, or fair, amount of work is needed. The payment for work accomplished could be based on sales price and profits, but a fairer method is to establish a standard and pay in accordance to that standard. 2. Schedules. In order to schedule work effectively and keep things running smoothly and orderly, a knowledge of expected working times is an absolute necessity. Budgets. Budgets provide needed control over funds. One of their more important inputs is operating costs. Standards provide the expected operating times from which these costs are computed. 4. Labor cost control. Labor cost is usually a very significant percentage of the total manufacturing cost (normally from 10 to 40 percent). To control these costs, the actual costs must be compared to a standard and any deviation corrected, especially if the actual is greater than the standard. . Downtime studies. Properly developed standards include reasonable allowances (extra time) for personal time, unavoidable delays, and fatigue. Both time study and work sampling can be used to determine these allowances. They can also be used on a continuing basis (daily or weekly) to measure actual downtime and personal time when definitive production records are not kept and standards are not used.

Detente – Was it successful?

However, the term D ©tenet simply means a loosening of tensions, which did happen ND therefore is it correct to say that it failed? D ©tenet certainly backed away from more incidents like the Cuban Missile Crisis happening once again, and cooperation increased between the powers significantly, therefore to a fairly large extent I don't agree that D ©tenet was a failure. The policy was often viewed as ‘soft' and it was criticized by many Americans because the aggressive Soviet Expansionism continued.On the other hand though, expansionism doesn't signify any failure, because D ©tenet was not a tool to stop communism from spreading like containment was, but a policy to reduce tensions, or this reason Soviet Expansion can't be seen as a factor for the failure' of D ©tenet to any extent. It was also viewed as a failure because not all of the policies worked, for instance the Helsinki Agreement of 1975 was an agreement based around human rights, it was completely dismissed by the USSR, who viewed it as a ‘scrap of paper and as a country they continued to suppress people.Moreover, other agreements had faults too, such as SALT 1 which failed to put caps on new advances of weapons and which only lasted for five years. To some extent these policies can be seen to have failed, yet despite these downfalls, as a whole we cannot view D ©tenet as a failure because there were positives to the policies, such as Increased communication which In turn reduced tensions – the alma of D ©tenet. Other people viewed D ©tenet as a failure because The Cold War continued afterwards; they wanted D ©tenet to end the war completely.Following the period of D ©tenet, the appointment of Ronald Reagan as president of America led to a period of the ‘Neo-cons', a group of people that hated communism and wanted to eliminate t. For this reason, the Cold War fired up again, and some people believe that because of this, the policy of D ©tenet was a failur e; however to a large extent this is untrue, because D ©tenet was never a promise to end the Cold War, and both the Americans and the Soviets were aware that it was not the end. D ©tenet was a promise to reduce tensions, which It did successfully to a great extent.On the other hand, when reviewing D ©tenet overall In relation to Its aim, It was incredibly successful. The policy of D ©tenet aimed to reduce tensions between the Missile Crisis, which put into perspective how easily the countries could destroy each other; MAD, mutually assured destruction was the name given to this realization. In terms of mutually assured destruction, d ©tenet was a positive thing; it increased communications for example through the use of the hotlist set up and these steps avoided further crisis.For this reason, D ©tenet was to no extent a failure. In addition, D ©tenet had other successes for both America and The Soviet Union. America were able to use D ©tenet as a tool to get out of Vietnam, which was positive n terms of its international relationships. Moreover, D ©tenet stopped the Soviet Union from feeling isolated by the relationship built up by China and America, which was positive because this in turn reduced tensions and increased communications – the overall aim.Finally, D ©tenet improved the economic situation in both America and The USSR after the arms race had taken it's toll, this was done by an increase in trade and technology across the iron curtain. All these factors were positive and the loosened tensions between the superpowers, therefore D ©tenet was without a doubt success in achieving its aim. In conclusion, it's obvious that D ©tenet did have many downfalls and for this reason many people instantly conclude that it was a failure.On the other hand, to a large extent D ©tenet achieved its purpose because many policies reduced the tension that was present. D ©tenet should not be seen to have failed due to the fact that the C old War continued, because that was not the intention of the policy. Overall, it's evident that d ©tenet was only a failure to a marginal extent because of the downfall of some of the agreements, yet to a significant extent, D ©tenet was a success.