The Conflict between U.S. Patent Protection and Technological Innovation: Analysis and Problem Solving by Means of the Integrated Causal Model for Innovated Ethic

Criticisms of patent laws for technological innovations in the United States reveal a multifaceted milieu of problems centered around the protection of short‐term economic gain and individual property rights. In this article, we consider this a conflict between current patent laws and the innovation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Business and society review (1974) 2017-12, Vol.122 (4), p.531-555
Main Authors: Chumney, Wade M., Wasieleski, David M., Schumacher, E. Günter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business ethics
Causal models
Causality
Companies
Conflict
Economic problems
Ethics
Failure
Governance
Innovations
Law
Morality
Patent law
Policy making
Problem solving
Property rights
Protection
Social environment
Social problems
Technological change
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Summary:Criticisms of patent laws for technological innovations in the United States reveal a multifaceted milieu of problems centered around the protection of short‐term economic gain and individual property rights. In this article, we consider this a conflict between current patent laws and the innovation capabilities of organizations. We propose a solution that enables the company to assure its long‐term survival in the face of these restrictions. This presumes that the firm will at least maintain its innovation capacities while preserving the company's ethical values and those of its social environment. We offer a theoretical model that is designed to help managers and policymakers reorient their governance strategies for managing the innovation process, using the “ethics of responsibility,” which establishes the link to individual moral values at the beginning of a governance process as well as the consequences of a decision. Our integrated causal model of ethical innovation for patents is presented and implications for global organizations and possible solutions for patent law process failure are offered.
ISSN:0045-3609
1467-8594
DOI:10.1111/basr.12130