Law and Business

Contract Law

One area of business law that can be broken down into further categories is contract law. You can write on the effects of a breach of contract in business and some of the defenses one might have to breaching a contract such as an adhesion contract, misrepresentation, fraud and duress. One famous case you could include in your paper is Sondra Locke v. Warner Brothers, a case where Locke sued Warner Brothers for breach of contract and failure to act in good faith. Another case you could include is the case brought against ABC and the Extreme Makeover Home Edition television show where five orphans claimed ABC had them sign an unconscionable contract allowing their host family to evict them from the home that was built by Extreme Makeover.

Tort Law

Another area of business law that can involve many subcategories is tort law. The area of tort law can include slips and falls at work, accidents involving work vehicles, nuisances such as businesses emitting pollution or noise, and manufacturers failing to provide a duty of care to consumers. Some famous cases involving tort law in the business realm are: Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Company, where Grimshaw sued Ford under product liability because the Ford Pinto was prone to catching on fire when hit from the rear due to its design; and the case made famous by the movie Erin Brockovich, Aguayo v. PG&E, where residents of a town were exposed to toxins in the air, water and soil.

Intellectual Property Law

Another one of the numerous areas under business law is intellectual property law. This area of the law was virtually non-existent just a couple of decades ago. You could write a paper on trademark infringement, copyright laws and trade secrets. There have been a great deal of cases in the news over the past several years. There was a criminal prosecution involving a former Coca Cola employee who along with two others tried to sell the secret formula of Coke to PepsiCo. There were also the numerous lawsuits that erupted against Napster in 2000 by many artists for "stealing" songs and allowing computer users to download music without paying the artists or producers.

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