Waggie Tails

This activity is important because it exemplifies why the legal environment is important for businesses.

The goal of this exercise is to demonstrate your understanding of the different protections afforded to businesses, including intellectual property protections, warranties, and laws.

Read the case of the Waggie Tails and then answer the questions that follow.

Case

Waggie Tails is a business that specializes in all aspects of a dogs life. It has a veterinarian office, a team of groomers, dog trainers, and dog walkers; it also sells a variety of organic dog food and other items essential to a dogs life. Waggie Tails has locations in both Illinois and Missouri.

Codi the owner, recently developed a smart collar that includes GPS technology intended to track dogs that run away or pull loose from their leashes. Owners of the smart collar can program in their home address and other areas within the vicinity to where the dog will most likely run off; for example, the local dog run, a local park, a pet shop, a friends or neighbors house, and so forth. Codis smart collar technology can be downloaded as an app onto any phone or device that already has built-in GPS functionality. When the dog gets loose from its leash or runs out of a known area, the owner will receive a text notification and an e-mail, along with a live map tracking the dogs whereabouts; this live map allows dog owners to locate and recover their dogs to bring them home.

Codi has designed this smart collar to also work with special food dispensers that have similar GPS-type technology. When the smart-collared dog walks near its food dispenser, this will signal the dispenser to release food in measured amounts, which you set. You also set the times at which the food is to be dispensed. This prevents your dog from overeating; it will also prevent other pets from eating the food as well.

Codi takes pride in providing top quality goods and services in both of her stores. She has a 100% satisfaction guaranteed for anything bought from Waggie Tails. She stands behind all her products and will offer a full refund for 30 days after the purchase if the customer is not satisfied for any reason.

Recently, one of Waggie Tails dog food suppliers insisted that Waggie Tails also carry its line of cat food. Waggie Tails doesnt carry merchandise for cats, so did not want to bring in the inventory. Unfortunately, the supplier then said that unless Waggie Tails purchases two cases of cat food, the supplier would discontinue its dog food supply. Since this suppliers dog food line is a best seller, Waggie Tails gave in and purchased a product it did not need. While a few products have moved off the shelves, for the most part, the inventory has remained. Waggie Tails has donated the extra cat food inventory to nearby animal shelters and hospitals.

What type of protection should Codi get to protect her smart collar invention?

Multiple Choice

• patent

• copyright

• trademark

• contract

• product ownership