Equality for Women Sweden Shows How

It is easy to pay lip service to the idea of equality for women but in practice this is often difficult to achieve. People's attitudes do not change overnight, and it takes time, as well as education and example, to remove prejudice. In many countries women still have great difficulty entering such professions as medicine and law, while the idea of woman truck-driver or race-horse jockey would be unthinkable.

In Sweden, however, equality of the sexes has been carried far. One reason for this is that there has been a shortage of labor in the country. Unemployment has been low, the population has remained static, so new jobs have had to be filled by women. Nowadays women comprise about 40 per cent of the working population — a high percentage compared with other countries. A second reason is that positive measures, in the form of government action, education and propaganda, have been used to bring about greater equality for women.

Campaigners for women's rights argued convincingly that there were two labour markets in Sweden, one for men and one for women. They stressed that women were mainly gathered in the office, carrying and service sectors of the economy.

Those sympathetic to women's rights considered that the problem was to persuade more women to work and, more specifically, to get women to undertake traditionally masculine jobs.

The first significant step in Sweden was taken when women priests were accepted in the official Lutheran church. Some years later another step was taken. The principle of equal pay was recognized in a binding agreement between trade unions and employers.

Then separate taxation for a husband and wife was allowed. This created an incentive for women to go out to work. A scheme of 'parents' insurance was brought in. During the first seven months after the birth of a child, either parent could stay away from work, and still collect about 90 per cent of normal pay. The idea was to encourage husbands to take part of this time off. They would then develop closer contact with their children, so it was thought, and take a more active role in child care later on. Another related benefit was that parents of young children could take off ten days each year to look after them if they were sick.

The most far-reaching measures were directed at tempting, even pushing, women into traditionally masculine jobs. The purpose of this is not only to produce more female lumberjacks, for example, but also more male textile workers; also, employers who provide in-service training for workers in jobs normally held by the opposite sex get a subsidy towards the cost of their wages. Local employment offices throughout the country have taken on extra staff specializing in the problems of women's employment. Part of their brief is to 'prevail upon employers and job seekers to take an unconventional attitude' about appropriate work for their sex.

One programme in particular has attracted international interest. A pilot scheme was introduced, in six of Sweden's twenty-four countries, to persuade women to take on 'masculine' jobs. Areas were chosen where there was a shortage of labour and many unemployed women. Invitations were sent out to all women in these areas, and those interested in working were invited to attend an information day at chosen companies. They were thus given an opportunity to study the manufacturing processes of the local industries. Next, they registered for a four-week course consisting of practical orientation in a certain type of work. At the end of this period many stayed on and were hired by the company.

This experimental programme proved highly successful. It was extended to other counties. It produced women painters, electricians' apprentices, lathe operators, even foundry workers.

Other measures are in the pipeline. It has been suggested that widows' pensions should be abolished. Alimony payments have been reduced, on the principle that a woman ought to go out and support herself rather than depend on her former husband.

Of course, some problems have arisen. When a wife works a morning shift and her husband an afternoon shift, then they may only really see each other at weekends. Also, many husbands are still reluctant to do their share of household chores even though their wives have full-time jobs. Life can be tough in Sweden for the working woman.

Unit 8. Business Law

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Dispute resolving

Almost all the day-to-day activities of a business create potential for a civil dispute: a supplier may fail to deliver goods under a contract; a customer may refuse to pay a bill; one of the business's products may injure a consumer; an employee may be injured in a manufacturing plant; a marketing plan may involve restraint of trade. Although good business managers attempt to minimize the poten­tial for dispute through careful planning, even the best-run businesses cannot avoid them.

Litigation. A business that becomes engaged in a legal dis­pute may resort to litigation, contesting the claim in court, to resolve it. Because litigation has be­come increasingly time-consuming and costly, however, it often is not the best method for resolv­ing a business dispute. The formal procedures of litigation can require a business and its employees to devote valuable time to collecting and reviewing evidence, meeting with attorneys, and attending court hear­ings. Further costs are incurred to retain attorneys who must draft documents, attend court hearings, review evidence and legal precedent, interview wit­nesses, and otherwise plan for trial. Litigation rarely resolves a dispute quickly. Complex business issues may further pro­tract proceedings because the judge or jury is not familiar with economic, scientific, or other specialized information. Even after trial, the case may be prolonged by appeal. Litigation also often creates hostility between the parties, a result that is especially detrimental if the parties must maintain a business relationship such as a long-term contract or employer-employee relationship. Moreover, be­cause court proceedings and documents generally are open to the public, a litigated case may produce adverse publicity for a business or the opportunity for its competitors to obtain valuable information. In addition, a successful plaintiff does not have the benefit of the damage award until the case is re­solved and the judgment collected. Finally, even a strong case can be lost, and uncertainty regarding the outcome of a case often adversely affects both parties' ability to plan operations.

Because of the expense, delay, and uncertainty of litigation, most civil disputes involving businesses are resolved using alternative dispute resolution (ADR), processes. ADR encompasses a variety of procedures including time-tested techniques such as negotiation, mediation, and arbitration, as well as recent innovations such as minitrials and private trials. Although ADR is available to resolve any legal controversy, many ADR techniques are par­ticularly suitable for resolving business disputes.

Almost all ADR techniques emphasize quick res­olution of disputes using informal procedures and allow the parties to avoid crowded court dockets and the protracted appellate process. The appro­priate method for resolving a specific dispute de­pends on a number of factors including the nature of the dispute and the relationship of the parties.

Negotiation. The vast majority of business disputes are resolved through negotiation, a process by which two parties with differing demands reach an agreement gener­ally through compromise and concession. Whether negotiation is informal (for instance, one or more telephone conversations between two business peo­ple), or formally structured (such as a meeting or meetings scheduled solely to resolve the dispute), the negotiation process generally follows a similar format. After defining their positions and commu­nicating them to one another, the parties usually engage in a period of discussion, oral or in writing, in which they analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the other. Finally, one or both of the parties pro­pose solutions usually requiring concessions by each. If the parties can mutually agree on appropri­ate concessions, the dispute will be resolved. With­out agreement, the parties eventually become dead­locked, and resort to more formal dispute resolution techniques.

Negotiation is the simplest and most efficient method of dispute resolution, provided the parties truly desire to resolve their differences. Although effective negotiating skills and strategies can be learned in business schools and other pro­grams, negotiating parties also should be knowl­edgeable about the legal principles underlying their dispute. Many businesses, therefore, either consult with their attorneys throughout the negotiation pro­cess or refer the matter to their attorneys who then negotiate the dispute on behalf of their clients.

Mediation. If disputing parties reach a deadlock, they may seek the assistance of a third party to resolve the controversy. Mediation is a relatively informal process in which a neutral third party, the media­tor, helps resolve a dispute. A mediator generally has no power to impose a resolution. In many re­spects, therefore, mediation can be considered as structured negotiation in which the mediator facili­tates the process. Although mediators use different techniques and strategies, the mediator usually ini­tiates the process by meeting with the disputing parties, either individually or jointly, to explain the mediation process and to gather information about the parties and their dispute. The mediator then at­tempts to define the issues, establish an agenda for mediation, and preserve an atmosphere conducive to communication. Through meetings with the par­ties, the mediator assists them in generating options for settlement and assessing the options. Finally, the mediator helps the parties reach concessions and compromises that will lead to a final settle­ment. If a resolution is reached, the mediator may help reduce the agreement to writing and work with the parties to implement the agreement.

A good mediator knows strategies and techniques to facilitate communication, minimize distrust and help develop alternatives when the par­ties are unable to achieve these goals without guid­ance. If the mediator also has expertise in the sub­ject area of the dispute, the mediation process can expedite a fair resolution. The primary disadvan­tage of mediation is the mediator's lack of power to impose a binding resolution.

Arbitration. Like mediation, arbitration uses a neutral third party to resolve a dispute. Unlike the mediator, however, an arbitrator generally is empowered to impose a binding decision that resolves the dispute and that may be enforced by a court if the parties fail to comply. Unlike the court, which is a branch of government, the arbitrator derives its power to impose a binding decision from an express con­tract, the arbitration agreement, between the par­ties. Most frequently, parties to a contract include a provision requiring any disputes arising under the contract to be resolved through arbitration. Alter­natively, parties may enter into an arbitration agreement, sometimes called an Ad Hoc agree­ment, after a dispute arises. Many arbitration agreements provide for a panel of three arbitrators, who reach a decision by majority vote.

The arbitration contract may establish all of the rules for the arbitration process, including selection of the arbitrator, designation of the site for the ar­bitration, procedures for presentation of evidence, and deadlines for hearings and the decision.

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Protecting the Product Idea

In the past few decades, our society has added information and innovation to the formula for producing wealth. Now, knowledge is considered every bit as much a factor in making money as labour, capital, land, plant, and equipment. Moreover, ideas are important “assets” of a company. Consequently, the law affords ideas protection.

Any tangible medium of expression, such as writings, sound recordings, motion pictures, sculptures, notated choreographic works are copyrightable. Copyrights protect the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and other intellectual works. Copyright law covers reproduc­tion by photocopying, video tape, and magnetic storage.

To obtain Copyright protection, the word copyright (or its abbreviation) or the symbol must be on copies along with the author’s name and the year of copyright.

The Copyright Office will issue a copyright to the creator or to whomever the creator has granted the right to reproduce the work. (A book, for example, may be copyrighted by the au­thor or the publisher.) Copyrights issued after 1977 are valid for the lifetime of the creator plus 50 years. Copyrights issued prior to 1977 are good for 75 years.

Technically, copyright protection exists from the moment you create the material. When you distribute a work, place on the copies a notice that includes the term "copyright" or an abbreviation, the name of the author or creator, and the year of publication or pro­duction — for example, "Copyright 1986 Jane Doe."

Choosing a new name for a product is no easy task since there are about 1 million brand names in the US alone. Marketing impact is not the only consideration in the naming of a product. The scheme of laws surrounding product names and symbols must be consulted before selecting a new name.

A trademark is any word, name, symbol, or device used to distinguish the product of one manufacturer from those made by others. A service mark is the same thing for services. McDonald's golden arches are one of the most visible of modern trademarks. Brand names can also be registered as trademarks. Exam­ples are Exxon, Polaroid, and Chevrolet. If properly registered and renewed every 20 years, a trademark generally belongs to its owner for­ever. Among the exceptions are popular brand names that have become generic terms, meaning that they describe a whole class of products. A brand-name trademark can become a generic term if the trade­mark has been allowed to expire, if it has been incor­rectly used by its owner. Trademarks and service marks comprise most of the marks protected under state and federal law.

A collective mark is a trademark or service mark used by members of a collective group, such as a union or trade asso­ciation, to identify that its goods or services are produced by members of the group. Many realtors, for example, display a symbol reading "MLS" in­dicating that they are members of Multiple Listing Service, a real estate cooperative. A certification mark is a mark that attests to a specified quality, material, or origin from a certain region. The sym­bol "UL," for example, certifies that a product is in compliance with the standards of Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc.

A patent protects the invention or discovery of a new and useful process, an article of manufacture, a ma­chine, a chemical substance, or an improvement on any of these. Issued by the Patent Office, a pa­tent grants the owner the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention for 17 years. After that time, the patent becomes available for com­mon use. On the one hand, patent law guarantees the originator the right to use the discovery exclusively for a relatively long period of time, thus encouraging peo­ple to devise new machines, gadgets, and processes. On the other hand, it also ensures that rights to the new item will be released eventually. Other enter­prises may be able to make use of it more creatively than its originator. Not all inventions are patentable. The Patent Act empowers the federal government to grant three general types of patents: utility pa­tents, design patents, and plant patents.

One of the best variant of protecting product ideas is the law of trade secrets.

As the term indicates, the subject of a trade secret must be secret—not generally known to the public or to other competitors in the trade or business. It may or may not be patentable. Novelty, as used in patent law, is not required. Unlike patents, which confer a right to exclude all others from using the invention, trade secrets are protected against unauthorized use only if the secret is obtained through a breach of a confidential relationship or other improper means. Thus, an em­ployer who confides the secret to key employees under an express or implied restriction against dis­closure or use would be protected if the employees subsequently used the secret for personal use or disclosed it to a competitor. In addition, the holder of a trade secret is protected against knowledge gained by improper means such as physical force, burglary, theft, wiretapping, or other forms of in­dustrial espionage. The trade secret holder, accord­ingly, is not protected against discovery of the se­cret by honest means, independent invention, or reverse engineering (analyzing the product em­bodying the secret to determine how it was devel­oped or manufactured). Thus, tort liability is im­posed not for using a trade secret, but rather for employing improper means to procure it. A patent provides in some ways more, and in other ways less, protection than a trade secret. For example, trade secrets may last indefinitely and are not limited to patentable inventions. In contrast, patent law protects inventions that are not secret even against persons who independently and hon­estly discover the patented product or process.

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