Running head: LEGAL ISSUES 1

Legal Issues: Discussion Questions

Name

Institution
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Question one

Essentials to a valid contract

A contract is a voluntary agreement between two or more people set to meet some

specific obligations. In some cases, parties may breach the agreement before or after the

target is met. Therefore, there are some ways one can use to describe a valid contract. The

following characteristics describe a valid contract (Adriaanse, 2016).

i. Presence of a valid, binding agreement- Any valid contract should comprise of an

offer from one party and acceptance from the other party. Acceptance of an offer may

involve an oral, written, or certain behavior that makes the contract valid.

ii. Consideration- Consideration here entails what is expected out of the contract by

both parties. It includes anything valuable, for example, money, the promise of

specific actions, and others.

iii. Capacity- a contract involves parties of a certain level of qualifications. That is, the

parties involved must be qualified to meet the capacity required by the contract.

iv. Intention- Both of the parties must be willing to undertake the prevailing conditions

binding the agreement.

v. Formalities- A valid contract should have all the factors proving its legality, such as

written and oral agreement.

vi. Legal purpose- Any valid contract should follow the correct legal procedures before

undertaking any agreement.

Any contract that seems to be breaching any of the above requirements may put a

company in trouble and even meet a serious loss. Therefore, as a manager, essentials for a

valid contract such as binding agreement, consideration, capacity, intention, formalities, and
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legal purposes must be considered before getting into any contract. This would prevent my

company from getting into dangerous risks.

Contract Formation

Adriaanse (2016) defines a contract as a voluntary agreement that protects the rights

and actions of the parties involved. Law recognizes a valid contract as that entailing binding

agreement, consideration, legal purpose, intention, and formalities. However, uniform

commercial codes describe a valid contract almost in the same way but with an inclusion of

capacity. Every business manager should be able to distinguish and identify what applies to

the business. This will enable the manager to know which contracts to undertake and the ones

to avoid.

Breach of contract case

An example of a case where a contract was breached is that of Wilkinson v Osborne

(1915) 21 CLR 89. The case was regarded as null and void due to public policy. The case

involved a contract for commission. In the case, Boorabil house owners hired Wilkinson to

bargain on their behalf in a business they intended to lend the house to the government. In

return, Wilkinson was to get a commission of £1000 out of the total that was to be £4000.

The declaration of the contract as a breach founded rest on the claims that the contract was

against the public policy according to the law. According to other articles, the contract

formality was unclear, thus breaching the legal procedure for any valid contract.

Question Two

Pharmaceutical drug liability- This product liability law covers some of the challenges

faced by pharmaceutical products such as undetected side effects. It provides the

manufacturers with the mandate to provide a time limit for their clients to complain of any

side effects encountered. For example, the case heard by the supreme court about Merck
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Sharp and Dohme Corp vs. Doris and others in January 2019. The arguments were based on

the side effects of using a drug from Fosamax. The advertisement, in this case, was not legal

as the company’s name destroyed.

Question 2.1

Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is working on a daily basis

ensuring that all food and drug products sold to the consumers are safe and their quality

proved. Similarly, Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), is constantly ensuring that

consumers are safe from faulty products. They are ensuring that consumers who might have

been unfortunately sold to faulty products are refunded. The government is ensuring quality

products and services to the people. This is not limited to safety of people on roads. The

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), constantly protects passengers on

roads by ensuring that the traffic rules the users obey the traffic rules.

Question Three

The following are some forms of intellectual, intangible property protection pursuant

(Abbott, Cottier, and Gurry, 2019).

Patents- Patents provide various businesses with the right to innovate and invent technology

in their businesses. Common types of patents include utility, design, and plant patent.

Trademarks- These are the unique symbols of a company that distinguishes it from the other

companies.

Trade Secrets- These are the information any company hides from their competitors to get a

competitive advantage over their competitors.

Copyright- This is the protection of the original work of a given company. For example, in

music to protect original work from piracy.

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An example of an IP case is that of Samsung Electrics co. Vs. Apple Inc. In this case,

Apple company sued Samsung for design patent infringement (Baldwin and Henkel, 2015).

Apple argued that the design of phones with round corners produced to market by Samsung

was their original design. Concerning the case, the federal court will determine whether the

argument is right or wrong. According to me, the accusation of the Apple company on

Samsung has no legal-based evidence for an article of manufacture. Therefore, the court

might rule on the side of the Samsung company.

To resolve about the cases and claims of IP breach, companies should come up with

proper trademark and copyright protection strategies. This will fill in the missing evidence for

an article of manufacturer missing in the case of Apple and Samsung (Baldwin and Henkel,

2015). Besides, the provision of an article of manufacture is the solution to win on such cases

on a court. The law on IP rights and limitations gives rights of an article of manufacture to

the patent owner and the extent of its full profit.

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References

Abbott, F. M., Cottier, T., & Gurry, F. (2019). International intellectual property in an

integrated world economy. Aspen Publishers.

Adriaanse, M. J. (2016). Construction contract law. Macmillan International Higher

Education.

Baldwin, C. Y., & Henkel, J. (2015). Modularity and intellectual property protection.

Strategic management journal, 36(11), 1637-1655.