13. Explain the following statements:

1) A trademark is a valuable asset zealously guarded by its owners.

2) Make yourself familiar with what might be considered trademark infringement.

3) Prospective clients go fishing for ideas and then implement the best ones without retaining the firms that suggested them.

4) A thorough discussion of billing procedures and fees at the beginning of a client relationship will save much agony and recrimination later.

5) A restaurant may quote you $25 per person for a meal but neglect to tell you that this does not include taxes and a gratuity for staff.

6) A freelancer is an independent contractor.

14. Topical questions:

1) Do you know any trademarks of the companies in Russia?

2) What regular benefits are freelancers denied? Is it a common practice to use freelancers in our country?

15. Give a summary of the text

16. Develop the following statements:

1) Trademarks are valuable assets. It is your responsibility to protect and use them correctly.

2) Written contracts or letters of agreement are necessary for the employment of freelance writers and other outside consultants.

UNIT

SIX

A

Working with Lawyers

You now have an overview of how various laws and governmental regular, affect your work as a public relations writer and specialist. A basic knowledge of the law should help you do your work in a responsible and appropriate manner, but yоu also should realize that a smattering of knowledge can be dangerous.

Laws and regulations can be complex. You are not a trained attorney, so it should be obvious that you should consult lawyers who are qualified to answer specialized questions regarding libel, copyright, trademarks, government regulation, and invasion of privacy.

Your organization's own staff attorneys or outside legal counselors are your source of information.

At the same time, remember that lawyers can tell you what to do or not to do; they should not tell you what to say or how to say it. They are experts on the law but not on effective communication. They don't understand that the media want information now or that "no comment" is perceived as a guilty plea in the court of public opinion

Indeed, a major area of fiction in any organization is the clash between the legal and public relations departments. Lawyers generally prefer to say little or nothing in most situations, whereas the public relations staff perceives its role as providing steady flow of information and news about the organization to multiple publics. It never-ending tug-of-war. At the same time, it is essential that the legal and public relations staffs cooperate in the best interests of the organization.

Great care must be taken in releasing information about litigation, labour negoti- ations, complex financial transactions, product recalls, and plant accidents. Numerous laws and regulations, to say nothing of liability considerations, affect what should not be said.

□ Words and word-combinations

1. attorney — юрист

2. to consult lawyers — советоваться с юристами

3. staff attorney — юрист, находящийся в штате фирмы

4. legal counselor — юрисконсульт

5. a guilty plea — признание виновности

6. never-ending tug-of-war — бесконечное «перетягивание каната»

7. product recall — рекламация на продукцию

8. litigaion — тяжба, спор

B

It is often important to draft a proposed statement or release and submit it to legal counsel for approval. The release should give as much information as possible and be phrased clearly and concisely. The object in such a release is to convince the public that the organization is not hiding behind legal technicalities but, at the same time, must protect itself from possible lawsuits and litigation.

Your relations with legal counsel will be more pleasant and more productive if you keep abreast of new developments. To do this, you should maintain a file of newspaper and magazine articles that report on legal develop-ments and decisions relating to public relations. This might include new regulatory guidelines, consent decrees, libel awards, trademark infringement suit, product recalls, and court decisions on employee privacy.

To ensure the best cooperation and mutual respect between the legal and public relations functions, here are some guidelines:

• Each department should have a written definition of its responsibilities.

• The heads of both departments should be equal in rank and report to the organization's chief executive officer or executive vice-president.

• Both departments should be represented on key committees.

• The legal counsel should keep the public relations staff up to date on legal problems involving the organization.

• The public relations staff should keep the legal staff up to date on public issues and media concerns that will require an organizational response.

• The two sides should regard each other as allies, not opponents.

□ Words and word-combinations

1. to draft a statement — составить заявление

2. to submit to smb for approval — подать (заявление) к.-л. для утверждения

3. legal technicality — юридическая сторона

4. to keep abreast — не отставать от, идти в ногу

5. to be represented on key committees — иметь представителей в важных комитетах

6. to keep smb up to date on — держать к.-л. в курсе событий

C

Ethics and Professionalism

Equally important are the ethical and professional values that you bring to your wok.

Ethical considerations, like the law, are often ambiguous and subject to

interpretation. Most situations are neither black nor white but rather various shades of gray. Although the public relations writer is an advocate and must convey information in a persuasive way, this does not excuse the presentation of false or misleading information. In sum, you have to ask not only whether something is legal but also whether it is the right thing to do.

It is argued that public relations practitioners have five moral obligations.

• To ourselves — to preserve our own integrity

• To our client — to honor our contracts and to use our professional experts our clients' behalf

• To our organization or employer — to adhere to organizational goals and policies

• To our profession and our professional colleagues — to uphold the stands -the profession and, by extension, the reputation of our fellow practitioners

• To society — to consider social needs and claims

Unfortunately, personal conflict is often involved in trying to serve the пег these groups. An employer or a client, for example, may think it in the organizations interest to hide information that may be detrimental to its reputation or sale. As a public relations writer and practitioner, do you go along with the organization's wishes, or do you adhere to your own personal values and the standards of the public relations profession?

□ Words and word-combinations

1. ethics — этика

2. ethical values — этические ценности

3. ethical considerations — этические соображения

4. ambiguous — двусмысленный, сомнительный

5. to be subject to — подвергаться

6. to convey information — передавать информацию

7. public relations practitioner — практикующий профессионал в области паблик рилейшнз

8. on smb's behalf— от имени к.-л.

9. to adhere to — придерживаться ч.-Л.,

10. fellow — сотрудник

11. to consider social needs and claims — учитывать социальные нужды и тре- бования

12. detrimental — вредный, приносящий убыток

D

The answer depends in large part on how you view your role. Some writers consider themselves technicians whose responsibility is to prepare materials as the organization or client wants them, even if the result is dishonest or misleading. They are г literary equivalent of "hired guns", available for any and every cause. Professional to them means writing good, persuasive copy even if they don't believe in what they are writing.

Other writers feel that they serve as lawyers in the court of public opinion. All parties, they believe, are entitled to tell their side of the story and be represented by public relations counsel. In this mode, the writer's obligation is to present the best possible defense of the client. Thus a public relations firm should have no qualms about representing a foreign government accused of human right violations, a racist hate group, or a cigarette company.

Making an ethical decision on the kind of organization or cause that you want to have as an employer or a client, however, is only one part of the equation. Moral and ethical decisions also have to be made almost daily about the content and structure of various messages. Do you say that an executive has resigned "for personal reasons" even though you know that the person was fired for incompetence? Do you exagger­ate the number of people attending an event? Do you say that a product is safe even though tests have revealed a potentially dangerous design flaw? Do you write about a company's restructuring to be more profitable without mentioning the layoff of 1,500 employees?

There are no easy answers to such questions. The simple axiom "Always tell the truth" understates the complexity of the decision process.

□ Words and word-combinations

1. to be entitled to — иметь право на

2. to be accused of human rights violation — быть обвиненным в нарушении прав человека

3. equation — уравнение (машем.)

4. moral and ethical decision — моральные и этические решения

5. incompetence — некомпетентность

6. potentially dangerous design flaw — ошибка в расчете (проекте), чреватая опасностью

7. layoff — увольнение

8. to understate the complexity of — преуменьшать сложность ч.-л.

ERCESES