Legal Advice, Essay Example

Describe the company

Conrad-Johnson is a company that is involved in manufacture of high end audio electronics. They are located in Fairfax Virginia. The company was established in 1977 by Dr. William Conrad and Dr. Lewis Johnson. The first product that the company ever produced was the vacuum tube preamplifier, which is also referred to as the PV-1.  After its inception, the PV-1 was considered to be a highly advanced product that was the foundation of the rise to success of Conrad-Johnson.

Based on the historical accomplishments of the company, there are indications that Conrad-Johnson is a company that ensures it develops and designs revolutionary audio products that ensure that they are not one, but two steps ahead of their competitors. Their products have gone on to gain wide acclaim and are considered to be among the top audio products on a global scale. (Conrad Johnson design Inc, n.d.)

The design philosophy of the company is based on developing a mono stand out function of any given stereo system, with the use of modest and advanced equipment. The company intends to allow listeners to be captivated by the emotional experience form each and every musical performance. The audio products are designed in ensuring that the listeners can get a recreation of the feeling that can resemble one that can be felt at a live performance, without creating any interference to the enjoyment of the music. This aspect is developed from a genuine love of music.

The major initiative(s) they have planned for the next 5 years

The latest development of products by Conrad-Johnson will be designed on providing a redefined feeling of home entertainment for listeners. The latest products are developed along the line of making the audio experience feeling much more realistic as well as simple. This is evident in the development of their new product HD3. It is not a new direction by the company, but it is a long term ideology that is based on making the audio experience much simpler for listeners.

The HD3 is one of the new products that are designed on the basis of making it easier for listeners to connect their music servers to their home audio system. The genera ideology that Conrad-Johnson is adopting is creating products that will make it easier for listeners to connect their music storage devices and ensure that the listeners get to enjoy their music in the most convenient setting based on their preferences (Conrad Johnson design inc, n.d.). It is in this nature that the ideology will serve to benefit Conrad-Johnson in the long run in terms of sales in products and even the general increase in the company’s market volume.

This can be considered to a new development in the home experience, which can be attributed to the fact that with the HD3, the company is establishing a new measure in home entertainment in which music storage devices can be interlinked with home audio systems and create a feeling that is in line with the company design ideologies and philosophies. This is an aspect that the company intends to develop in the coming years as it will serve as an evolution of the audio experience.

 Determine which elements of administrative law will be most relevant to the upcoming initiative (s) and what the impact of those laws will be

As far as law is concerned, there a number of elements that will apply in the development of the company’s new products. The most obvious will regard copyright infringement. This element is based on the matter of a company developing products that are similar or resemble another company’s products that are considered to be legally based on one company’s ideology and cannot be replicated by any other company. In this case it is essential that for Conrad-Johnson to ensure success of the products, they must be based on product ideas that are used by any other company that legally belong to the related company. In the vice versa concept, it will be ideal for the company to develop the products and legally make them their own ideas that can be duplicated by any other company. This legal measure will allow the Conrad-Johnson to be the sole developer of the version of the products that will allow the company to monopolize the market and record high revenue. (Gordley, 2006)

Discuss applicable sales, licensing, and e-Commerce laws the company will need to take into consideration during their initiative(s)

If that ideology is followed, the aspect of extortion can arise as a legal case. In this case the company may charge prices of their products too high and thus the listeners will have to pay too much for the product. In this case there may be an intervention by the state that will force or establish a price ceiling for the company products. In order to avoid such a development or problem, the company can carry out market research based on the ideal price for the products that will ensure that the company receives a good amount of revenue from the products and ensure that the listeners or market is satisfied.

Another possible development from the high prices might be the aspect of discrimination. This legal matter is based on setting the price in a manner that the product can only be available to a limited number of individuals or even the sale of the products can be done in specific locations and not in others. Such a case can cause lawsuits that will in turn direly affect the reputation of the company. The best solutions to counter this probable problem can be to develop cheaper products that may serve the same purpose for those with a limited budget or lower the price of the products so that they are affordable to the broad market and thus it will be ideal for the market. (Luban, 2001)

There are other cases that may be based on the elements of privacy protection, product liability, and intellectual property rights, these aspects should be addressed so as to allow the company to avoid any negative effects of the company’s reputation. In the case of product liability, it is essential that the products are marked with labels that illustrate that the product is on high quality, based on the review of the product by the standard company in Virginia. This will allow the company to ensure that the product is not liable and is guaranteed to perform as required. Another measure is establishing a warranty on each product. Duration of a year or two will be ideal for the company; and should any default; customers can return them for a replacement. (Hazard, 2004)

Makes recommendations for the company to minimize the threat of lawsuits relating to privacy protection, product liability, or intellectual property rights

Regarding intellectual property rights, it is important for Conrad-Johnson to establish or ensure that there are labels on the products that will reveal that the owner of buyer of the product will be liable in terms of damage and the manner in which they use the product (such as playing the music too loud). This will remove the factor of the company being liable for misuse of the property. The labels will serve to indicate that company will not be liable for the misuse or the manner in which the buyer will use the product. This will indicate that the owner of the product (buyer) was aware of the implications of buying the product.

References

Conrad Johnson design, Inc (n.d.) The Conrad-Johnson Story, retrieved from: http://www.conradjohnson.com/It_just_sounds_right/index.html

Gordley, James R, von Mehren, Arthur Taylor (2006) An Introduction to the Comparative Study of Private Law, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom

Hazard, Geoffrey. C, Dondi, Angelo (2004) Legal Ethics. Stanford University Press, USA

Luban, David (2001) “Law’s Blindfold”: Conflict of Interest in the Professions. Oxford University Press, United Kingdom