1. You are CEO of a large publicly traded company. You are negotiating several contracts with foreign governments in Vietnam, India, and Brazil to provide hardware and software to government agencies. Are you interested in including an arbitration clause in the contract? What are the pluses and minuses of such a clause? What alternatives do you have? How does your plan change, if at all, if you are dealing with multiple corporations in the same countries? What if you are dealing with one corporation in the United Kingdom and one in New York? Discuss how these variables may affect your decision.
2. You have started a small high-tech company in New York.
a. You are running an informational website. Customers must call your 800 number to place an order. A customer in Alaska is very unhappy with your product. Can he or she successfully sue you in Alaska?
b. You decide you want to be clear in all your future dealings, so you insert a forum selection clause in all of your contracts with your customers that stipulates arbitration in New York under the rules of the American Arbitration Association. Would this be enforceable?
c. What if the forum selection clause stated that all disputes would be heard in Tibet?
d. What ramifications are there to changing your website and making it more interactive so that people can place orders there?
e. What if your competitor is using your trade secrets and your patents without your permission or payment? Would you be interested in arbitrating this dispute? Explain.
f. What difference would it make if your competitor were a Dutch company?
g. The CEO has asked you to outline a comprehensive strategy to deal with customers, suppliers, and citizen groups complaining about a myriad of issues as well as employee complaints (both domestic and foreign). Prepare a short memo addressing key principles, major concerns, and suggested actions?