PROFESSOR NANCY KING

OFFICE PHONE: 737-3323

E-MAIL: kingn@bus.oregonstate.edu

OFFICE NUMBER: Bexell #336

Much of this course’s online information can be found at its Blackboard website.

Course Description:

An integrative course on managing legal issues in a business environment characterized by e-commerce, intellectual property, evolving technology, a global marketplace and government regulation. Students develop skills to identify and resolve legal issues, deal with administrative agencies, and proactively minimize legal liability. Ethical and legal considerations of management decision-making are emphasized. PREREQ: BA 230, graduate standing. This is a 3 credit course.

An entrepreneurial focus is provided in the course with emphasis on legal and ethical issues related to new organizations or new ventures within existing organizations.

Measurable Student Learning Outcomes: At the end of this course, students will be able to:

1)     Understand and formulate strategies to minimize risks related to key legal and ethical issues of managing innovations in technology, electronic commerce and global business markets.

2)     Select the appropriate legal form for creating business entities.

3)     Formulate legal strategies to create and protect the intellectual property rights of a business and avoid infringing others’ intellectual property rights.

4)     Apply concepts of ethics and social responsibility to manage organizations.

5)     Evaluate the impact of government regulation on management of organizations.

6)     Understand the litigation and alternative dispute-resolution processes utilized by organizations to resolve legal issues.

7)     Communicate strategies to minimize legal and ethical risks in writing and/or orally.

Learning Resources:

Required Materials:

1) Texts, businesses cases and other required reading materials:

·        Melvin, CyberLaw and E-Commerce Regulation, An Entrepreneurial Approach (2005).

·        Bagley and Reed, BitTorrent: Copyrights in Cyberspace (2006), a Harvard Business School Case that may be purchased from the campus bookstore or ordered online from http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/ (search Business cases for “Bagley”).

·        One of the following two books on Ethics and the Enron scandal: Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald (2005) or Behaving Badly: Ethical Lessons from Enron by Denis Collins (2006)[you can order one of these books online from Amazon.com, purchase a copy from the campus bookstore, or check out a copy from a library, depending on availability (these books are not on reserve in Valley Library).

2) Additional Reading Assignments: will be posted on Blackboard and/or linked to the online version of this syllabus and/or provided in class.

Optional Materials:

1. E-mail updates from GigaLaw.com Daily News (It is recommended that you subscribe to this free update service at http://www.gigalaw.com/newsletters/dailynews.html for the term).

2.  Bagley and Dauchy, The Enrepreneur’s Guide to Business Law (Thomson West 2003). One copy is available through the reserve desk in Valley Library for your use.

3. For review of foundational materials on American business law, see Miller and Jentz, Fundamentals of Business Law (6^th ed., 2005), especially chapters 1-6. This book is available through the reserve desk in Valley Library for your use.

4. Gene W. Arant, The Idea Business: Rules of the Game (2005). This book provides a guide for inventors and other business persons interested in protecting intellectual property and/or retaining an intellectual property attorney.  Two copies are available through the reserve desk in Valley Library for your use.

Class Meeting Time and Place:

Bexell Hall, Room 415, Wednesdays, Afternoon section meets noon-2:50 p.m.; Evening section meets 6-8:50 p.m.

Office Hours:

Bexell Hall Room 336, Monday, 11-12 noon; Tuesday 2-3 p.m., Thursday 1-2 p.m. 

Drop-ins welcome during office hours, please make an appointment if you would like to see me outside office hours.  E-mail is encouraged.

Evaluation of Student Performance includes the following:

Homework:

You are required to do the assigned reading before the class for which it is assigned.  Generally the assigned reading for each class includes material from the texts, and may include other assigned readings posted on Blackboard, available otherwise on the Web, or provided as class handouts. Study questions on the reading materials will be posted on Blackboard and should be reviewed prior to discussion in class of the reading materials to which they relate.

Class Participation:

Class participation is an essential element of the learning experience in this class and a portion of your grade will be based on your contribution to class discussion. During the first class, we will discuss expectations for class participation including guidelines for effective class participation (See Guidelines for Effective Class Participation, posted on Blackboard). Of course, you must be in class and prepared for in order to participate effectively. You are responsible for all materials in chapters and other assigned readings unless expressly excluded.  You are encouraged to be in class and on time for all classes; being absent or arriving late without advance permission from the instructor will be viewed negatively in terms of class participation. To facilitate evaluation of your contribution to class discussion, please display your name card for each class and sit in the same seat as indicated on the seating chart.  You must attend the section of the class in which you are registered. You may not attend another section of this class unless you have advance permission. For example, if you are in the afternoon section, you may not attend the evening section, unless you have permission from me in advance.  If you need to attend another section, send me an email message to request permission. You will not receive credit for class participation or a quiz taken in a class for a section other than the one in which you enrolled without advance permission to attend that class.

Quizzes:

Unannounced and announced quizzes will be given in-class. Announced quizzes will cover the topics that have been announced  in advance. Unannounced quizzes will cover the assigned reading for the day. At least 5 quizzes will be given. As an alternative, some of the quizzes may be take-home quizzes. Take-home quizzes may cover more than one week’s reading assignment and may be open book. The quizzes will include short essay questions and some objective questions. In-class quizzes are designed to encourage you to read the assigned materials prior to class and prepare for class discussion. Make-ups for missed quizzes are not provided except in extraordinary circumstances.  Send me an email if you want to request an exception to the no-make-up rule and outline the reasons for your request in the email.  The ability to drop the lowest quiz score is designed to provide some flexibility for you in case you must miss a class due to work schedules, transportation problems, day-care problems, minor illnesses and doctors’ appointments, etc.  Generally no make-up will be provided for missed quizzes for these types of reasons.

Written Deliverables for the Course:

You are required to produce two written “deliverables” for the course as described in the “schedule of assignments” posted on Blackboard. These course deliverables require you to write papers on legal and ethical topics. You have a choice on whether to complete Course Deliverable #1 or #2 (choose one of the two). Additionally, all students must complete either Course Deliverable #3 (Essay/Book Review on ethical issues related to one of the two books on the Enron scandal/substitutes for the final exam)(choose of the two books listed in this syllabus to read for this assignment).

General Requirements for Written Deliverables for the Course.  Your paper must be typed and must meet the page length minimums and maximums provided in the description of the assignment. Your paper must evidence good writing, including correct grammar and spelling, good organization, inclusion of an introduction and a conclusion, and proper reference of source materials. Footnotes or a bibliography (with sources indexed in the text of the paper) must be included. When you have used the ideas or words of another author in your paper, you must properly quote and reference the other author.  The Chicago Manual of Style is a good reference guide for the “form” of your papers.  A bibliography and any appendices will not be counted in the page minimum or maximum. Your paper must be turned in on the due date to receive full credit.  Generally your grade will be reduced the equivalent of one full letter grade for each day or partial day that that a paper is late.

• Using Your Prior Work, Referencing the Work of Others:  To properly give credit to an author for his/her ideas or words in your writing, you must either include footnotes or prepare a bibliography of resources (internally referenced in the text) that you used to prepare the paper. You may not turn in a paper that consists of work that you have done for another class, or turn in a paper for this class while also submitting substantially the same paper in another class, without discussing this issue with me in advance and obtaining prior approval to do so. You should also seek approval from the other instructor if you are planning to satisfy the requirements of two courses with one paper.  Failure to give credit to others for their ideas, including proper use of quotation marks and references, is viewed as plagiarism and addressed as academic dishonesty. Turning in prior work of your own and turning in substantially the same paper in two classes, without advance approval and appropriate disclosure, are also issues of academic dishonesty. Note: You may use your work in this class in your MBA Business Plan. Indeed, this course has been designed to help you fulfill the requirements of the Integrated Business Plan.
• Citing Online Reference Sources: For written assignments, you will be able to use Lexis-Nexis, an online database that includes business and legal reference material that is provided for OSU students and faculty through the library, but available online.  You may also use legal and business reference material that is available in libraries or other online legal databases. See “Web links” posted on Blackboard.  A publication that provides a listing of some of the web-based legal databases is available from the reserve desk in the library.  In your bibliography or in your footnotes you must list all significant references used to prepare your paper.  You must also provide the URL (web location reference) for web resources and the date that a reference on the web was last visited.  Web sources must include a description of the document or material you are referencing on the site, including the author’s name if available. Website content changes and it is not adequate to simply provide a URL and date last visited.
• You may choose to work with your IBP teams to prepare group papers for one of the written course deliverables (either Course Deliverable #1 or #2).    A maximum of two to three students from an IBP team may combine their efforts to complete Course Deliverable #1 or #2. Students working on their IBP projects will benefit from having their team complete both written course deliverables #1 and #2 as these assignments are directly related to preparation of the IBP.  When an option to prepare an IBP group paper is available, all students working in a group on a course deliverable must contribute substantially to the paper and will receive the same grade on the paper.

Note: There is No Final Exam in this course

Grading Scale:

You may calculate an estimate of your course grade at any time during the term by adding up the points you have received and determining if you have at least the minimum percentage of available points to earn the applicable grade as follows:

A      >= 93%                      C    >= 72%

A-           90%                      C-           70%

B+          88%                      D+          68%

B            82%                      D            62%      

B-           80%                      D-           60%

C+          78%                      F      <=59%

Link to Statement of Expectations for Student Conduct: http://oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/achon.htm. See also the discussion above under Written Deliverables for the Course re Using Your Prior Work, Referencing the Work of Others, and Citing Online Reference Sources.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION:

Accommodations are collaborative efforts between students, faculty and Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD). Students with accommodations approved through SSD are responsible for contacting the faculty member in charge of the course prior to or during the first week of the term to discuss accommodations. Students who believe they are eligible for accommodations but who have not yet obtained approval through SSD should contact SSD immediately at 737-4098.

The syllabus is a guide, not a contract, and therefore may be changed as necessary.  If changes are made, I will announce them in class and place them on the board, generally at least one class in advance of the due date for an assignment, etc.

Last revised November 29, 2006