Video Transcript: Lecture 6

hello everybody. Welcome to lecture six. So today we are talking about  intellectual property rights. So this is so a lot of information, but it's so important  when we think about intellectual property rights and the rule of law, if you  remember, in earlier earlier lectures, I spoke about the complexity of the  environment that international business have to operate in, and how there's so  many rules and there's so many laws and there's so many different things to  consider, and intellectual property rights begins to dissect and have those  conversations. So let's, let's discuss legal systems a little bit, and let's  understand the difference of the different legal systems. So civil law is one legal  system, and I'm not a lawyer, so I'm going to be very clear in that. So you know,  certainly I'm giving you the definitions and the kind of the concepts here, but  certainly I would encourage you to look further into this as well. But, but civil law  is based on Roman law, and the judge questions parties to establish what the  truth is, and then that Judge will apply the applicable law and and will make a  determination. common law, it reply, relies on previous court decisions, and  precedent plays a key role. So the Supreme Court of the United States relies on  this type of law where, well and other other other forms of parts of the judicial  branch as well, but, but they rely on precedents and previous rulings. One of the things that is critically important remember, when we apply this type of law is the concept of presumed innocence, or innocence until proven guilty, which is a very different standard than guilty, and you're trying to prove your innocence. So in  the United States, from a law perspective, and certainly this can be argued, how we actually practice this, but from a law perspective, parties are presumed  innocent. They are not presumed guilty, coming into a coming into a court case  or coming into a court to defend themselves. Another kind of law is religious law, and Israel and some Muslim countries are good examples of this type of law,  where religion is the basis for the law. So if, if a religion says, Do not whatever,  then, then there's law that is based on that in a country. And as I said, Israel  certainly does this. And there are other countries in primarily in the Middle East,  that practice this type of law as well. So now that we kind of have an  understanding of the different types of legal systems, whether it's common law,  civil law, religious law, now let's describe the rule of law and the sources. So  you're going to hear the term international law, and you probably heard it, this  breaks international law, or this is in violation of international law, or whatever.  This is the type of a law where the nations have agreed to follow this type of law. So they they these type of laws add stability to the system. So they're important  from that perspective, and they also fall along the lines of Public Law, which is  between nations and private which is between individuals and or firms or  businesses. So these laws are derived from treaties, and can include compacts,  conventions and customs. And the important thing to remember is that the World Trade Organization, or the United Nations, often are the persons who sponsor  these type of international laws. So we are almost at talking about international 

property, but before we do, I want to talk about some legal concerns that are just general to international business and global business. So there's questions  about the application of the law beyond a nation's borders. What happens if an  international law is in contradiction to a nation's law? So an extreme example of  this is, what if international law a law there's an international law around on  murder, and in a country murder is legal, then that would obviously be a  contradiction of the law and what happens so there is a resolution process when that occurs and the UN manages that. Then there's what's called arbitration,  which is much more private and intrusive than court proceedings. And one of the complexities of it, and why arbitration is normally the preferred method, is  because litigation and getting the correct jurisdiction and going through those  fights is often very difficult. So certainly, anytime you can go through an  arbitration phase or have arbitration, that is certainly helpful. So now that we  understand the law a bit, and we understand those terms, international law, how  it works, arbitration, all those things. Now let's turn our attention to finally, the  topic we wanted to talk about today, which is intellectual property rights. So  intellectual property, remember, that is a creative work, and the rights to that  work, and it's legally protected. So the World Trade Organization has an  agreement in place that protects companies and intellectual property, and there  are different types of protections to heard that are covered and that you probably have heard of patent. Remember, a patent is country specific, and each country  has a different approach, or approach for its protections, which is kind of  dangerous, because other countries may steal the patents that you have come  up with. So also there's different rules governing patents. So the UN works very  hard, especially in area pharmaceuticals like the COVID 19 vaccine is a good  example where the UN worked very hard to reduce some of those restrictions  around patents so we could get the vaccinations and hand for people as quickly  as possible. Trademarks is a mark that a company solely uses, so Apple has the Little Apple symbol, for instance, as with patents, and each country is going to  determine and control those in the EU trademarks are standardized, so that's  going to know. So the EU operates slightly different trade names. So they're  they're used to differentiate products, for instance, Burberry, which makes  clothing and bags and all kinds of things versus dub so certainly trade names is  something that that needs to be protected as well copyrights, these are the  exclusive legal rights for authors and computer and composers, and it's  important with computer software and with internet, internet based programs as  well. So copyright is important, but often you'll think about copyright when you  think about your favorite song or something, and you may want to put it in a  video. Certainly, there's some songs that I would love to play as I'm fading out in this video, but I can't do that because of copyright laws without the express  permission of the author or the copyright owner. I mean trade secrets. So trade  secrets is information that a company wants to keep private or secret. And the 

advantage to this is that there are no public filings, it's less cause costly. It's  easier to keep secrets. And companies protect their secrets, their their  proprietary information, their manufacturing those things, and they can protect  them through non disclosure agreements and through other means. So to show  the complexity of this well, before I get there, I want to, I want to just mention  that there's some debate around this topic, but generally, companies do well to  have standardization of laws, just like we talked about last lecture. Companies  like stability. Companies also like standardization. Makes things easier for them,  certainly when you can remove some complexity from the complex environment  of operating a multi multinational or an international company, you want to do  that so, you know, standardization of laws allows legal proceedings to avoid the  messiness of different countries' laws and statutes. So large international  companies obviously push for the standardization of laws wherever possible.  Because again, it goes back to the two things that businesses like, which is  predictive, predictability and stability. So whenever possible, if you can be  predictable and you can be stable, that is what is. That is what is wanted.  Excuse me. So now to show this complexity, we'll go through some of these  laws. So remember that there's tremendous variation between countries,  between even between cities. I mean, I think the COVID 19 pandemic, if you're  in the United the United States, there was certainly some confusion as you  traveled from state to state, or from county to county, or from wherever what the  law was. I mean, in one county you may have had to wear a mask, and in next  county you may not have had to wear a mask, and it caused significant  confusion among the populace. Now take that and put that on an international  scale. When you're dealing with different countries, dealing with different states,  dealing with different regions, even dealing with different localities, it gets  incredibly complex very quickly. But as a as a general rule, though there is some tremendous variation, it is always important to have local counsel in the areas  that you're operating in. For instance, Disney has lawyers specifically employed  in Paris or in Japan, or, I think it's Japan is the other one, but they have specific  lawyers that operate around the world because they understand that type of law  for that place. So to prevent fixed pricing, market sharing and monopolies, there  is the concept of competition walls, or anti trust walls, and the in US, the law  regards consumers. First in the EU, it looks at rivals, objections, and then  Japanese antitrust laws modeled on the US. Cultural value of harmony  influences its application. So I say all that to say this, that the US tries to take  their antitrust laws, their monopoly, anti monopoly, those kind of laws, and they  try to apply them to other countries. And it does not always go well, because  other countries are governed by their laws and what their what is important to  them. And so it doesn't always work when the US tries to apply like Monopoly  laws across country lines, country borders, I should say there's trade obstacle  laws, and these have financial, political and legal impacts when we talk about 

tariffs or quarantines, and think about this, we talked about this in earlier lecture, where those are used to control imports, but on the other side of that that  certainly trade laws are important, tort laws. This is in the US. This is different  from other countries, where harm and damages may result in large money  awards that doesn't really happen in most other countries, and then product  liability is responsible. Responsibility falls on the corporate officers in the US,  and that means you have to have high liability insurance. So in other words,  many, many years ago, and now you'll see caution hot coffee on McDonald's  cups. But somebody sued McDonald's because they spilled coffee on  themselves, and it was hot, and they said that they did. They did not have  warning or whatever around that. So that that that affected, obviously the  company, and then laws had to be put in place that protect the company. They  have to buy into. Ordinance, etc, etc, etc. Let's see other things, miscellaneous  laws. Again, this goes down to local law. So we have talked about this before.  With COVID, certain local ordinances and local law require masks, where other  places don't that causes confusion, and then there's the Foreign Corrupt  Practices Act. So what this act says is this act says that you can't bribe  government officials, and there has to be transparency in accounting  transactions. So it's supposed to elevate the ethical standards that operate  across international business, and it may create a disadvantage for US  companies and versus local competitors, if you're not allowed to bribe  government officials to get advantages for your company. So all these things are important. But what I want to drive home by talking about a couple of these  examples is how incredibly complex this is. I mean, this is a very, very, very  complex situation. It's a very, very complex environment that which we live in for  international businesses that want to operate overseas. So I hope that is coming through the complexity surrounding this. So let us shift a little bit and let us talk  about accounting law. So what is accounting law? So there's the Sox, which is, I  can't say the word, but the Sarbanes Oxley act, and that was in response to  worldwide scandals, and it sets higher standards for boards, management and  accounting firms. So there was some harmonization that is currently undergoing  between different accounting standards and US Gap laws are rules which, which will, which will make some of those accounting practices more aligned and more harmonious, which will make doing business internationally a little bit easier. So  that is international law and a little bit about intellectual property, right? So  remember, intellectual property is something that has been very, very big,  especially, you know, you probably have heard the term a lot copyright  infringement. You know, certainly people sell unlicensed NFL jerseys, National  Football League jerseys, and I'm sure that happens in other sports as well, but  these unlicensed jerseys is an example of breaking international law and  copyright infringement, trademark and all those things. So just wanted to point  that out before we move on to our company for the week. So our company this 

week is Arcadium, which is a New York based company, but they also have a  studio overseas, and they had a movie and move the studio out of a country.  When Russia invaded, invaded a country, they had to move their entire business out. So moving an entire staff from one country to another is quite a challenge,  but they had quite a bit of success in doing so. So let's, let's just take a quick  look at this company. So I am going to, there we go. So this is Arcadium, and as  you can see, they sell games. They sell a lot of games. Here's, you know, this is  one I certainly have played quite a bit, but they sell games. So let's scroll down.  And what I want to show you is corporate. And once that loads, my apologies,  that's taking a minute. Okay, there it is. So you can see here that that they have, they have a lot of information about the games that they do and about some of  the companies that they work with, and some of the people that they work with  as well. So if we go to our team and their and their websites a little slow, so my  apologies. You will see here that they have obviously a lot of a lot of traditional  team members, but they have a very diverse workforce that is international in  nature. So they they operate out in New York, but they also operate around the  world. As I said, they have, they have people all over the place. So just wanted  to tell you a little bit about them. Would love you to go check them out. You can  certainly go here and see see some of the moves that they're making. Oh, one  thing I do want to point out so you'll see on here where it is. So they are  obviously working with Apple you can see in this article all right now on Apple  arcade. And the reason why I wanted to point that out is because, if you  remember, in the earlier lectures, we've talked about the inner, inner  dependency of businesses, and we talked about, if you're a candy shop, you still you may get your cocoa from a different country. So even if you're a local candy  store. You are not just tied to that country. And you can see, you can see, with  their partnership and going all in on Apple arcade that they certainly are involved in. They are an international company anyway, but they're certainly involved with an international company as well. So, so I guess my point is, is this is all  interconnected. It's all about stability. You know, these copyrights, these  intellectual property rights, that that trademarks, all those things are critical to a  business's success. So I hope you got that from our review of Arcadium, and I  hope you got that through our discussion of intellectual property rights. So the  next lecture, remember, we're continuing to talk about these different forces that  impact international business. We talked about political force a couple lectures  ago. Next we'll talk about economic and social economic forces, so that will be  our next one. But before we get there, let us take a moment to pray so Dear  Heavenly Father, thank you so much for just your presence in our lives, Lord.  Thank you for constantly taking care of us. Thank you for nurturing us. Thank  you for guiding us and directing us. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to  get an education that we can use to further your kingdom work, Lord, I pray that  as we think about international law, we think about these intellectual property 

laws and intellectual property rights that we will just think about our own  businesses and how we can navigate this complexity to do your work. Lord, it's,  it's not, you know, it's not our work, but, but, but help us to put forth businesses  that glorify You, Lord. So thank you so much for the opportunity to to come  together to learn to talk about these interesting companies and what they're  doing, and just thank You, Lord for the opportunity to work together, Lord, as we  transition from the first half of the class to the second half of the class. I pray  you'll bless each member and each person that is viewing these lectures in  Jesus name. Amen. Thank you so much, and I will see you for lecture number  seven, economic and social economic forces.