Integrated Skills Programme
Task Brief

Krista Yen is the Commercialisation Director of a Pharmaceutical research company based in Hamilton, New Zealand. For years her organization has been developing a drug that will overcome a number of common organ rejection issues. Now, the week after the drug was formally submitted to the testing authorities in New Zealand, a letter from solicitors of a rival firm in Venezuela has arrived accusing Krista’s firm of intellectual property theft. Although the specification of the drug is a closely guarded secret, the Venezuelan firm have shown that two paragraphs in the technical release submitted to the testing authority, are identical to those published in a paper presented by their researchers at a conference in Buenos Aires last year. The first paragraph describes the way in which the drug works upon entering the stomach and the second describes possible side-effects.

Krista’s firm holds non-disclosure agreements with all employees and the firm’s contract of employment stipulates that anyone responsible for intellectual property infringements will be summarily dismissed. The Head of the Research Team, who was ultimately responsible for the report’s preparation, has tendered her resignation, but she insists, privately, that she did not write the sections in question. Suspicion has fallen upon a Nicaraguan research assistant with a reputation for spending time in Spanish-speaking, technical-based, Internet chat rooms.

Although it is highly unlikely that the Venezuelan firm’s drug is identical to their own (unless the specification has been leaked!), Krista knows that a court case will lead to the specification becoming public knowledge. She is keen to avoid this situation and, ahead of detailed legal advice, has turned to your team for a managerial overview of 1. What agreements on IPR exist between Venezuela and New Zealand; 2. Whether the conference paper constitutes a piece of intellectual property; and, 3. How she should handle the situation with the two employees. Krista expects you to deliver a three-page (four if you include a title page) report by 12:00 the day before presentation day and to deliver a ten-minute presentation on the issues the following day. This is a real opportunity to demonstrate to a senior director your ability to research, analyse and present your ideas in a professional manner.