Ethical Behaviour

Ethical behaviour?

Who owns your knowledge?

Ken is a process engineer for Stardust Chemical Corp., and he has signed a secrecy agreement with the firm that prohibits his divulging information that the company considers proprietary. 

Stardust has developed an adaptation of a standard piece of equipment that makes it highly efficient for cooling a viscous plastics slurry. (Stardust decides not to patent the idea but to keep it as a trade secret.) 

Eventually, Ken leaves Stardust and goes to work for a candy-processing company that is not in any way in competition. He soon realises that a modification similar to Stardust's trade secret could be applied to a different machine used for cooling fudge and, at once, has the change made.

Mike W. Martin & Roland Schinzinger, Introduction to Engineering Ethics, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill, Noew York, 2010, p. 156

Has Ken acted unethically?

The codes of ethics classify this case as a conflict of interests. On one side, Ken had signed a secrecy agreement with his previous employer Stardust not to expose their technologies without their permission. However, that agreement may or may not validate that Ken should abide by it as long as he’s working or as long as he lives. Also, Stardust didn't protect the cooling technology developed by deciding not to patent it which indicates trusting their employees not to divulge any information about it. On the other side, Ken felt no obligation on his behalf to remain loyal to Stardust ever since he left it. Seeking for his best interest with his new employer, he saw an opening for applying the Stardust cooling technology in his new firm. As a new employee, one may argue that he can use his expertise in gaining good status and making the best impression. It may seem not fair to Stardust for Ken to apply its technology without permission. Although, since he is not claiming the right of developing this technology to him and only applying it may seem justified. I would say some similar cases are based on the circle of trust versus interest and certainly depend on the place people worked for. For Stardust versus the Candy Company, where no competition is relevant, I think there was no harm for Ken to use Stardust’s technology since he left it already. Moreover, if Stardust was willing to own this knowledge for life and not share it, they would have patented it. After Ken joined the new company, he had an obligation to deliver his best knowledge to it. In some other sectors like the military, sharing the knowledge after resigning or moving to a new sector is considered a risky violation and cannot be justified to seek one’s interest.