Question

Consider the following scenario.

Ken is a process engineer for Stardust Chemical Corp., and he has signed a secrecy agreement with the firm that prohibits his divulging information that the company considers proprietary.

Stardust has developed an adaptation of a standard piece of equipment that makes it highly efficient for cooling a viscous plastics slurry. (Stardust decides not to patent the idea but to keep it as a trade secret.) Eventually, Ken leaves Stardust and goes to work for a candy-processing company that is not in any way in competition. He soon realizes that a modification similar to Stardust’s trade secret could be applied to a different machine used for cooling fudge and, at once, has the change made.

1. Has Ken acted unethically?
2. Who owns your knowledge?

Answer 1

A. Ken has acted unethically as it is mentioned above that he signed a non disclosure agreement that prohibits him from divulging the secrets of the previous company to another new company. Despite the agreement that was signed, he decided to reveal a trade secret, which is unethical behavior. The company can potentially take legal action on accord of breach of trust and contract.

B. Intellectual property rights state that an individual who is responsible for the creation of the knowledge is the rightful owner of the knowledge unless it is sold under legal and justifiable terms and contracts to another holder or party. Then it is that parties ownership claim.