Module- 3

 Basics of Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual Property – refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic
works; designs; and symbols, names and images. 

Intellectual Property rights provide protection for creations and inventions, to enable creators and

inventors to earn recognition and financial benefit from their work.

Types of Intellectual Property

1.  Copyrights- "Copyright" literally means the right to copy but has come to mean that body of
exclusive rights granted by law to copyright owners for protection of their work. A Copyright is
granted for 60 years.

2. Patents- A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a

process that provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a
problem. A patent protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years from the filing
date of the application.

3. Trademarks- A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one

enterprise from those of other enterprises. A trademark exclusively identifies a product as
belonging to a specific company and recognizes the company's ownership of the brand. A
trademark is allotted for a period of 10 years.

 Confidentiality & Unintentional Breaches of Confidentiality

About Confidentiality- Confidentiality is the obligation and right not to disclose information to
unauthorized individuals, entities, or processes if it would harm the organization, its business
relationships, or an individual. It's part of a duty of loyalty for the management.

Confidentiality is the keeping of another person or entity’s information private. 

Why is confidentiality important for an Organisation?

Confidentiality builds trust between employer and employee and business owners have an
obligation to keep stakeholder’s information secure and trusted. To have their information shared
is not only a breach in privacy, but it will destroy employee trust, confidence and loyalty. It may
cause a loss in productivity and legal repercussions.

Unintentional Breach in Confidentiality

Seen very commonly, the unintentional breach of confidentiality may occur due to Carelessness
and for legal reporting.
There are various ways in which the confidentiality might be breached. Perhaps the most obvious
and common threat to confidentiality protection arises from simple carelessness such as:

 Not removing identifiers from the data files,

 Leaving cabinets unlocked,
 Not encrypting files containing identifiers,
 Talking about specific respondents with others not authorized to have this information,
and so on.

It is very important for the organizations to be alert to these issues, provide employee guidelines
for appropriate data management, and ensure that the guidelines are observed.

 Principles of Natural Justice

Natural justice is identified with the two constituents of a fair hearing, which are the rule against
bias, and the right to a fair hearing.

Essentially, natural justice requires that a person receive a fair and unbiased hearing before a
decision is made that will negatively affect them. The three main requirements of natural justice
that must be met in every case are: adequate notice, fair hearing and no bias. Sometimes, all three
of these concepts are grouped together as “the right to a fair hearing.”

Purpose of the principles

• To provide equal opportunity of being heard.

• Concept of Fairness.

• To fulfill the gaps and loopholes of the law.

• To protect the Fundamental Rights.

There are mainly three Principles of Natural Justice.

1 . NEMO JUDEX IN CAUSA SUA- “No one should be a judge in his own case” because it
leads to rule of biases. Bias means an act which leads to unfair activity whether in a conscious or
unconscious stage in relation to the party or a particular case. Therefore, the necessity of this rule
is to make the judge impartial and given judgment on the basis of evidence recorded as per the
case.

2. Audi Alteram Partem- It simply includes 3 Latin word which basically means that no person
can be condemned or punished by the court without having a fair opportunity of being heard.

3 . Reasoned Decision- Basically, it has 3 grounds on which it relies:-

• The aggrieved party has the chance to demonstrate before the appellate and revisional
court that what was the reason which makes the authority to reject it.
 • It is a satisfactory part of the party against whom the decision is made.

• The responsibility to record reasons works as obstacles against arbitrary action by the
judicial power vested in the executive authority.

• Working with Minors

A MINOR is a person who has not attained the age of majority according to the law to which he
is subject.

Section II of the Indian Contract Act, 1872: Every person is competent to contract who is of the
age of majority according to the law to which he is subject, and who is of sound mind, and is not
disqualified from contracting by any law to which he is subject.

Coverage as per Factories Act 1948

Section 67. Prohibition of employment of young children.

No child who has not completed his fourteenth year shall be required or allowed to work in any
factory.

Section 68. Non-adult workers to carry tokens.

Section 69. Certificate of fitness. -

(a) certificate of fitness to work in a factory as a child, if he is satisfied that the young person has
completed his fourteenth year, that he has attained the prescribed physical standards and that he
is fit for such work;

(b) a certificate of fitness to work in a factory as an adult, if he is satisfied that the young person
has completed his fifteenth year and is fit for a full day's work in a factory

Section 71-Working hours for children

(1) No child shall be employed or permitted to work in any factory-

(a) for more than four and a half hours in any day;

(b) during the night.

2. For the purpose of this sub-section "night" shall mean a period of at least twelve consecutive
hours which shall include the interval between 10 P.M. and 6 P.M.

• Redressal Mechanism- Organizational Complaint Procedure

Defining Employee Grievances- Employee grievance can be simply defined as the

discontentment caused by the gap between what the employees expect and what they fail to get.
It may or may not be justified but needs to be tackled very carefully. A considerable amount of
time must be invested by the HR person to talk to the employees to understand their grievances.

Causes of Employee Grievances:

 Undesirable working conditions in physical terms.

 Changes without prior notice.
 Poor employee relations.
 Improper wage adjustments.

Redress Mechanism - Steps To Handle Employee Grievances Most Effectively:

1. Create the system:- The first thing is to set up the grievance redressal system for your
companies, to help your employees lodge complaints and grievances, so that it can be resolved. 

2. Acknowledge the grievance:- You should listen more than you talk while dealing with
employee grievance.

3. Investigate:- Not all issues qualify for a hearing. Generally, it is important to review whether
the grievance is valid or not. Inquire about the incidents or situations and gather any relevant
information. 

4. Hold the formal meeting:- The employee with the grievance and all the relevant parties
should be called to be present in the formal hearing. 

5. Take your decision and act accordingly:- This is the decision making phase. Once you have
collected all the required information and examined the situation closely, you should make a
decision.

6. Appeal process:- Your employee might not accept your decision and has the right to an
appeal. 

7. Review the situation:- It’s always healthy to have an objective look back at your decisions. 

8. Uproot the main cause of grievance:- Your aim is to go for a long-lasting solution. That is, a
formal complaint should be addressed once and for all. 

• Legal Aspects of Professional Ethics

What are Ethics and Professional Responsibility?

Professional ethics are principles that govern the behavior of a person or group in a business
environment. Like values, professional ethics provide rules on how a person should act towards
other people and institutions in such an environment.
Unlike values, professional ethics are often codified as a set of rules, which a particular group of
people use. This means that all those in a particular group will use the same professional ethics,
even though their values may be unique to each person.

However, there are some universal ethical principles that apply across all professions, including:

o  Honesty o  Trustworthiness o  Loyalty o  Respect for others o  Adherence to the law

o  Doing good and avoiding harm to others

Relationships among Law, Licensure, and Ethics

1. Non-Admirable: Conduct may be non-admirable, or even repellent, but not be civilly

actionable or criminal.

2. Civil Action - Conduct may be civilly actionable. 

3. Contrary to Licencing Statutes - Conduct may be both unethical and a violation of the
licensing law—for example, false advertising.

4. Conduct may violate the licensing law but not be unethical or malpractice—for example,
forgetting to file reports with the state board.

5. Conduct may be unethical, contrary to the licensing law, and malpractice, such as a
establishing relationships with clients.