ELEC 421

Ethical and Legal Issues of Design

Profession – A calling requiring special knowledge

and often long and intense academic preparation.

(source: Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary)

• Special body of knowledge

• Training

• Other distinguishing characteristics

Professional Societies

Ethics

What is a Profession?

• Knowledge

• Training

• Ethics

• Licensing!

Are Engineers Professionals?

• Morals derive from principles, the fundamental

laws or rules governing behavior.

The “Golden Rule”

• Values are things people or groups believe to

be worthwhile.

Clearly different for different groups

• Ethics are defined as rules or standards

governing conduct, particularly of a profession.

Morals, Values and Ethics

• A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon the

world – Albert Camus, Nobel laureate, author and

philosopher

• Ethical people do the right thing when no one is

watching – Anonymous, often quoted

Other Thoughts

The study of moral issues and decisions

confronting individuals and organizations involved

in engineering …

The study of related questions about moral

conduct, character, ideals and relationships of

peoples and organizations involved in

technological development

(Martin and Schinzinger, Ethics in Engineering).

Engineering Ethics

NSPE Board of Ethical Review

Established in the 1950s to review factual situations involving

ethical dilemmas submitted by engineers, public officials, and

members of the public.

Anonymous dilemma situations are reviewed by the members of

the Board and considered in light of the language of the NSPE Code

of Ethics, Board of Ethical Review precedents, and the practical

experiences of the seven professional engineers selected from each

of NSPE's separate geographical regions who serve on the Board.

The Board issues written opinions which contain a description of the

facts, pertinent Code citations, relevant questions, detailed

discussions, and conclusions. Some opinions also include dissents.

NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers

Designed to provide positive stimulus for ethical

conduct as well as helpful guidance and advice

concerning the primary and basic obligations of

engineers.

Also establishes the ethical guideposts for the NSPE

Board of Ethical Review in interpreting ethical

dilemmas submitted by engineers, public officials, and

members of the public.

Engineers' Creed

Developed in response to a desire for a short

statement of philosophy of service, similar to the

Hippocratic Oath for medical practitioners or similar

oaths of the legal profession, that can be used in

ceremonies or in recognition of individuals.

Approved in June 1954, the Creed is used widely in

NSPE, state society, and local chapter officer

installation ceremonies, licensure certificate

presentations, and engineering school graduations.

Engineers' Creed

As a Professional Engineer, I dedicate my professional knowledge

and skill to the advancement and betterment of human welfare.

I pledge:

To give the utmost of performance;

To participate in none but honest enterprise;

To live and work according to the laws of man and the highest

standards of professional conduct;

To place service before profit, the honor and standing of the

profession before personal advantage, and the public welfare

above all other considerations.

In humility and with need for Divine Guidance, I make this pledge.

Adopted by National Society of Professional Engineers, June 1954

The National Council for Examiners of Engineering

and Surveying (NCEES)

Rules of Professional Conduct

A set of model rules of professional conduct as guidance to

state engineering licensing boards in developing such rules.

Each state licensing board is generally granted the statutory

authority to promulgate its own set of rules, which are binding

upon every person holding an engineering license which allows

them to offer or perform engineering services in the state.

NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers

Preamble Engineering is an important and learned profession. As

members of this profession, engineers are expected to exhibit

the highest standards of honesty and integrity. Engineering has

a direct and vital impact on the quality of life for all people.

Accordingly, the services provided by engineers require

honesty, impartiality, fairness and equity, and must be

dedicated to the protection of the public health, safety, and

welfare. Engineers must perform under a standard of

professional behavior that requires adherence to the highest

principles of ethical conduct.

I. Fundamental Canons

Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall:

1. Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public.

2. Perform services only in areas of their competence.

3. Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.

4. Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.

5. Avoid deceptive acts.

6. Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and

lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of

the profession.

NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers

http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/index.html

Engineering Ethics Homepage

http://www.niee.org/cases/index.htm

National Institute for Engineering Ethics collection of

cases dating from 1976

We, the members of the IEEE, in recognition of the importance of our technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world, and in accepting a

personal obligation to our profession, its members and the communities we serve, do hereby commit ourselves to the highest ethical and professional

conduct and agree:

1. to accept responsibility in making decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the

public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment;

2. to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible, and to disclose them to

affected parties when they do exist;

3. to be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data;

4. to reject bribery in all its forms;

5. to improve the understanding of technology, its appropriate application, and potential

consequences;

6. to maintain and improve our technical competence and to undertake technological tasks for

others only if qualified by training or experience, or after full disclosure of pertinent limitations;

7. to seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of technical work, to acknowledge and correct errors,

and to credit properly the contributions of others;

8. to treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race, religion, gender, disability, age, or

national origin;

9. to avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment by false or malicious action;

10.to assist colleagues and co-workers in their professional development and to support them in

following this code of ethics. Approved by the IEEE Board of Directors

February 2006

IEEE Code of Ethics

• Spring 2014, ELEC 422

• Incident at Morales

…to be continued

Often relate to Ownership!

Legal Issues in Design???

• Intellectual Property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. -World Intellectual Property Organization

• Usually defined as those creations that are regulated by legislation

Intellectual Property

• Industrial property: includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source (Vidalia, Roquefort, Tuscany)

• Copyright: includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems, plays, films, musical works, drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures, and architectural designs

IP Categories

A patent for an invention grants the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention in the United States or importing the invention into the United States.

•Utility Patent: new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, compositions of matter or new useful improvement thereof. Must be novel, non-obvious and useful.

• Design Patent: new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.

Patents

• Research www.uspto.gov

• Application

Citation of prior art Description of invention Claims

M & A for cooling an IC device

Filing Patents

• Grants the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention, for 20 years from date of filing.

• Against the law to claim a false patent

• Failing to mark forfeits rights of infringement

• “Patent Pending” has no legal ramifications

Patent Rules

• Information Security

• P2P file sharing

• Electronic media

• Biotechnology/Genetic Engineering

• Pharmaceuticals

• International issues

Hot Patent Areas

• Laws of nature

• Physical phenomena

• Abstract ideas

• The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 excludes the patenting of atomic weapons

What Cannot be Patented?

• A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, which identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods or services of one party from those of others.” -United States Patent and Trademark Office

• Trademark rights arise from • Actual use of the mark • Registering the mark with the PTO

• Registration is not required to establish rights and begin using a mark but offers legal protection.

• Unregistered use may result in injunction and awarding damages for infringement

Trademarks

• Trademark rights last indefinitely, if mark is used.

• 10 year registration can be renewed

• Evidence of use required during 5th year.

• ™ and SM can be used by anyone

• ® only for issued registered trademarks

Trademark Rules

• Copyrights are protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. -United States Patent and Trademark Office

• Gives the owner exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

• To reproduce the work in copies;

• To prepare derivative works based upon the work;

• To distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

• To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;

Copyrights

• To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; and

• In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

…AND

• The Following Cannot be Copyrighted: • Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form

• Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents

• Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration

• Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship

• The Following are Not Restricted by Copyrights: • Criticism and comment

• News reporting

• Teaching (multiple copies for classroom use)

• Research

Limitations

• Registration legally establishes a public record of the copyright claim, and is required for infringement claim

• The time of registration can effect infringement awards.

• Copyrights last a long time. • Life of author plus 70 years

• 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication for institution-owned copyrights.

Copyright Registration and Terms

• Ethics • One distinguishing characteristic of a profession

• Adjudicated by the profession

• More to come in the spring

• Legal Ownership of Designs • Industrial property

• Inventions (Patents)

• Trademarks

• Copyrights • Literary works

• Artistic works

• Rules for establishing ownership and term of ownership vary

Summary