Our reputation for being an ethical company creates long-term value. Customers come back to us. The best and brightest employees come to work for us. Communities welcome us. Investors place their faith in us. All because we have a reputation for honesty, integrity, and fairness.

You may think that if you don't work in research and development, intellectual property (IP) doesn’t matter to you, but IP is a critical company asset. In fact, estimates show that an average of 40 percent of a typical company's value may consist of intangible assets not recorded on a balance sheet, with that percentage rising dramatically for IP-intensive companies. Every employee needs to understand the importance of exploiting and protecting our company’s IP, and that managing it is critical to competing successfully in our global economy. 

Three Kinds of IP 

What constitutes intellectual property? Intellectual Property law has three main branches: patents, trademarks, and copyright. 

• Patents grant a monopoly right to the first person to invent a new product or process, or a new technical solution. Patents protect the patent owner for a limited period, generally 20 years. Patents promote innovation by providing the inventor with the incentive of profit through exclusive promotion. Patent laws also protect trade secrets, defined as any information that is not generally known in your industry.
• Trademarks protect a company's "good will" -- the investment they've made in their name or brand, or the distinctive sign that conveys the company name or product to the public.
• Copyright protects the creative work of a particular author, governing the right to copy, publish, perform in public, translate, or communicate a work to the public via telecommunications. Copyright applies to all original literary and artistic works (including computer software).

To turn an invention into a profitable innovation, a company must successfully promote it and prevent others from promoting it. IP is difficult to control, especially when it travels out of one legal jurisdiction to another, such as across borders. Counterfeiting and piracy are major problems in the world of business, costing billions of dollars each year. According to a commission of the World Customs Organization, the market in illegal, counterfeit products is between 5 and 7 percent of total world trade and growing rapidly.

Because national laws do not apply to innovations that span international borders, international treaties attempt to standardize IP definitions and remedies for infringement. Treaties such as the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) spell out the rules for international IP protocol, including use of the Internet, computer programs, and databases. TRIPS provides for resolution between nations, not between citizens or corporations.

 Just as globalization has redefined the business landscape, the growing diversity and mobility of the workforce is creating both opportunities and challenges. Companies in many countries now employ individuals of different races, religious beliefs, gender, age, ethnic backgrounds and cultures, just to name a few of the unique characteristics that distinguish each of us. This unprecedented diversity contributes to the dynamic identities and strengths of countries, companies and individuals, but it has also introduced an opening for discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

Diversity is a core value of our company, one that we back up with a zero-tolerance policy toward workplace discrimination, harassment and retaliation. The diversity of our global workforce is also a testament to our employees, who continually demonstrate our corporate values.

Instances of discrimination are increasingly familiar. In the US alone, there were nearly 90,000 complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2015. Other countries also see an increase in complaints, whether charging religious discrimination in France or gender discrimination in Japan.

Notwithstanding the increase in discrimination and harassment complaints, countries are making positive strides to enact and implement strong anti-discrimination laws. For example, China’s Employment Contract Law mandates equal pay for equal work. The UK’s Employment Equality Act prohibits discrimination based on age. South Africa prohibits discrimination based on HIV-positive status.

In fact, there are a broad range of laws and regulations that cover discrimination, harassment and retaliation in the workplace – and that create different national anti-discrimination responsibilities. For multinational companies and their global employees, the confusion can open the door to noncompliance with the laws of host nations, even though policies and actions comply fully with the laws in place at the company’s primary location. We are committed to compliance with all governing laws, including those that apply to discrimination in the workplace. To achieve and maintain that compliance, it is essential that all employees understand the anti-discrimination policies of our company applicable to their locations and operations.

The OECD Umbrella

The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations set a broad-based standard for workplace anti-discrimination policies. The Guidelines state that no employee will be subject to any discrimination in employment including hiring, salary benefits, advancement, discipline, termination or retirement on the basis of gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, political opinion or social or ethnic origin. Not all countries have adopted the full range of OECD Guidelines, nor have all countries identically interpreted the prohibitions.

Title VII of the US’ Civil Rights Act of 1964 is one of the most recognized standards, originally prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion and retaliation. Revisions to Title VII and other US regulations and laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), expand prohibitions of discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on disability, sexual orientation, age, color, ancestry, military service and marital status. In recent years, retaliation and harassment have become important issues, with courts often defining the activities and policies that fall under each.