[LINK] Is it unethical to infringe a patent?

[Geoff Ramadan]

Gordon Keith wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 11:49, Geoff Ramadan wrote:
>>> Unethical?  Very tricky.  Depends on your ethics doesn't it?  If you
>>> have the ethics of a modern company then no, nothing much is unethical
>>> because companies aren't people and have no ethics.
>> Surely companies are run by people, decisions are made by people (on behalf
>> of a company) therefore the ethics of the company relate directly to the
>> ethics of the people running the company.
> 
> But is it ethical to act ethically?
> 
> I've heard it argued that companies are required by law to act in the best 
> interest of shareholders. If a company director has to choose between actions 
> that are ethical, but not in the interest of shareholders, or unethical but 
> in the interest of shareholders then the directory is legally and ethically 
> required to act unethically.
> 
> Regards
> Gordon
> 

As a minimum Companies have a responsibility to act in a legal fashion. The 
question of how they operate ethically (or otherwise) is determined by their 
charter, mission statement and the ethics of the Directors.

Some companies choose to include such statement, others don't, while others may 
leave it to the Directors to decide.

For example
Ethics statement from Texas Instruments
http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/citizen/ethics/index.shtml

Motorola
http://www.motorola.com/content.jsp?globalObjectId=75-107

With Motorola I know they try and reflect this in their contracts with Partners.

We have made many decisions based on ethics (and in some cases to the detriment 
of the "shareholders" - us in this case). There are many opportunities we don't 
pursue because we do not trust the ethics of the companies we deal with.

I believe you can make a profit and do it ethically. While I understand some 
dont' care.

However, I get the sense that this is changing for Business.

Reg
Geoffrey Ramadan