Assignment 1:

Unit 5: A Risk, Reward, Responsibility: Ethics in Business

1.Revisit the issue of ethical decision making that was discussed in Bus 241. For this purpose – please watch ,or in some cases rewatch, the video below but this time look at the issue of whose perspective you would take, the stockholder, the CEO, society at large–is there or should there be a difference depending on your role regarding the decisions made.

2.View Risk, Reward, Responsibility: Ethics in Business video (http://www.learner.org/series/ethics2/risk_reward/index.html) which can be found at the Ethics in America II (http://www.learner.org/resources/series207.html?pop=yes&pid=2250#) site.

3.After you watch the video, answer the following questions and place your answers under the Discussion Forum:

If you are a board member of a corporation, who do you owe your loyalty to? Make sure to consider the issues presented in the video. Please respond to one or more of the following questions:

oThe company, the shareholders (is there a difference?), or to society at large?

oCan you engage (as business executives) in actions that are not illegal and that might help the company but you are personally offended by on moral grounds?

oDo you find a difference between the two or three different scenarios presented in terms of how you would react? Why?

Point Possible: This assignment is required and graded – up to 15 points for your original posting with up to 10 points for replies to at least one student for a total of 25 points. See grading criteria Due Date: By the end of week 5

Assignment 2:

After reading Chapter 27 on the subject of Wills, Trusts and Intestacy

1.Prepare a “draft” Will, Trust or Power of Attorney for yourself or a fictitious person. This is called a Draft because it will not be executed and is intended for you to put into practice what you have learned.

2.Follow the legal requirements in your state for the making of a Will ,Trust or Power of Attorney and that you are fairly detailed.

Assignment 3:

Unit 6: Commercial Paper

1.Chose one of the hypothetical/questions/topics to answer utilizing the material from this week (see grading criteria under the Course Document.

a) Sarah Smith hired an attorney, David Rite to collect money owed to her on a mortgage. Rite was successful in his attempt to recover the money. He received a check payable to Sarah Smith for $100,000.00, but he forged Sarah’ indorsement and deposited the check c into his own account at Wachovia Bank. He later withdrew the entire amount. Is the bank liable? Why or why not? How could Sarah have protected herself?

b) The checks from the lowest to the highest amounts to minimize the number of dishonored checks? What other method may be used? Take a look at the new banking laws dealing with checks and answer the following: In what is the priority among checks drawn on a particularly account and presented to the drawee bank on a particular day to be paid? In other words-which checks gets paid first if all the checks are presented on the same day for payment? Does the Bank decide? It is in an order that prevents or minimized an overdraft? In the order that the checks are actually dated?

c) Describe electronic fund transfers and the online banking system with respect to the Electronic Fund transfer Ac

Point Possible: This assignment is required and graded – up to 15 points for your original posting with up to 10 points for replies to at least one student for a total of 25 points. See grading criteria under the Course Document.

Assignment 4:

Unit 7: International Business Law and Trademarks

If you have trouble pulling up the websites in this assignment (Discussion for Unit 7 on international laws and trademarks), just Google the topic “McDonalds v.McCurry legal case” and/or take a look at these articles and YouTube to help you. Be careful to check the dates of the article. This case has been going on for about nine years! You can still answer the questions listed below.

Watch the whole video as there is a discussion at the end by a law school professor on trademarks in general. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLY7IayGaT8

http://www.inta.org/INTABulletin/Pages/MALAYSIAMcCurryvsMcDonaldsPassingOfftheCommonLawandProcrusteanBeds.aspx

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mcdonalds-wins-eu-mac-trademark-case-2016-07-05-61033936

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36712690

1. Go to Discussion Forum Unit 7: International Business Law and Trademark
2. View the following resources:

Video 1: “McDonald’s Loses Trademark Battle to McCurry”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211873/McDonalds-vs-McCurry-Fast-food-giant-loses-year-trademark-battle-local-Malaysian-restaurant.html

Article from the Wall Street Journal :

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125240245264591953

3. Discuss intellectual property law (more specifically, trademark law) as it applies to McDonald’s litigation against the Malaysian restaurant “McCurry” and answer the following:

In your reasoned legal opinion, was the Malaysian federal court’s dismissal of McDonald’s lawsuit against McCurry a sound decision? Why or why not?

Visit http://mccurryrecipe.com/ and carefully examine the McCurry restaurant sign (Pictures and videos of the McCurry restaurant sign are available via the “About McCurry” section of the web site.) Compare the McCurry restaurant sign to the ubiquitous McDonald’s sign. Based on your comparison of the two signs, has McCurry committed a trademark violation?\

Why or why not? Should McDonald’s have an exclusive right to the “Mc” prefix? Why or why not?

According to the web site http://www.mcdonalds.ca/en/aboutus/faq.aspx, McDonald’s is an enormous multinational corporation, operating over 31,000 restaurants in more than 119 countries on six (6) continents. In your opinion, why would McDonald’s choose to engage in a protracted (eight-year) legal battle with a relatively small Malaysian restaurant operating only 137 outlets solely in Malaysia?

Assignment 5:

Unit 7: Environment and Pollution

1. Go to Discussion Forum Unit 7: Environment and Pollution

As Exxon and BP have discovered, a company may be held liable for endangering or polluting the environment. Recently, several attorney generals have commences a law suit against the nation’s five largest emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution to force reductions in their emissions of the heat-trapping gas. The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari indicating that it would hear American Electric Power v. Connecticut, an appeal of the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeal’s ruling that states and environmental groups could sue under federal public nuisance law to force electric utilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

See, “Supreme Court to Hear Key Global Warming Case”, Shopfloor, 6 Dec. 2010, 7 Dec. 2011:

http://shopfloor.org/2010/12/supreme-court-to-hear-key-global-warming-case/16634.

After you read the case, answer the following question, indicate if you agree or disagree with the decision of the court of the holding and why.

• Is pollution or environmental change something that can be effectively regulated by each state?
• What standard would develop for when the federal government should step in to regulate indirect pollution by a company such as described in the American Electric Power case above?
• In Germany, manufactures must take back packing materials for their products such as crated, drums, boxes and shrink wrap. They may not dispose of these items in the public waste disposal system. What would you think if legislators required American retailors to take back packaging materials such as cartons and antitheft devices on CDs?

Point Possible: This assignment is required and graded – up to 15 points for your original posting with up to 10 points for replies to at least one student for a total of 25 points. See g