Ethical issues arising from use of ICT technologies

Topic 1: Cybersquatting: Is It Entrepreneurship or Intellectual Theft?
Just before the 2000 New York senatorial campaign, Chris Hayden paid $70 each for the exclusive 2- year rights to the following Internet addresses: www.hillary2000.com, www.hillaryclinton2000.com, and www.clinton2000.com. A few weeks later, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, the then US first lady, declared her candidacy for the state of New York senatorial race. The Clinton campaign team wanted her presence on the web, but they could not use any of the three names, though they rightly belonged to Mrs. Clinton. Deciding not to challenge Mr. Hayden in the middle of an election campaign, the team opted to buy the rights for www.hillary2000.com from Mr. Hayden. However, Mr. Hayden decided to engage a broker to demand $15,000 for the use of the name.
Cybersquatting, as the practice of grabbing somebody’s name and registering it with an Internet registration company in anticipation of reaping huge rewards, is becoming widespread. [Source: Kizza
J.M. History of Computing. In: Ethical and Social Issues in the Information Age, 2010, Texts in Computer Science. Springer, London]
Investigate and report on Intellectual Property Right (IPR) raised in this case and link your answers to the questions listed below:
1. Is Mr. Hayden violating Mrs. Clinton’s intellectual rights?
2. Can Mr. Hayden claim free speech protection for the use of the names?
3. Should there be laws to make the practice illegal?

Solution

Ethical Issues in ICT

Introduction

The legal tussle between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Hayden brings about an ethical dilemma as far as the use of intellectual property belonging to the former is concerned. From one aspect, Mr. Hayden violates Mrs. Clinton’s intellectual rights by using her name without her permission. The respondent uses the complainant’s name in such a way that he can benefit himself at the expense of the victim. The main ethical matter that arises from this issue the failure of the respondent to seek consent from the holder of the name in a bid to use it for political mileage. In totality, Mr. Hayden can be deemed to have violated the intellectual rights of Mrs. Clinton because her name is an intangible asset that carries political weight and influence both in the United States and abroad.

Conversely, it could also be sensible to argue that Mr. Hayden does not violate Mrs. Clinton’s intellectual property because he had paid for the use of her name. Further, Mr. Hayden uses the name way before Mrs. Clinton expressed her interest in the senatorial candidacy. By virtue of a contractual agreement, Mr. Hayden had an express right to use the name on the website. However, it is unclear whether there was an explicit agreement on the manner in which the name was to be used. At the same time, the contractual agreements are not clear on the circumstances in which the complainant can or fail to use her name in the campaign trail. The ethical dilemma is whether Mr. Hayden had the right to use Mrs. Clinton’s name and at the same time, deny her the same liberty………………………………To access the rest of the solution for $5, please click on the purchase button.