The Ethical Dilemma of Stephen Trzaska and L'Oreal

In this case, I would side with Stephen Trzaska because he is ethical and demonstrates a stance of not making applications for the French multinational cosmetic producer and distributor that are not only false but also not worth of applying to the patent authority in the United States. The demand by L’Oreal to have 500 applications from the research and development department each year meant that Trzaska’s team should file patent applications for even products that are not patentable by law in the United States (Findlaw, 2018). The attorney told the management that his team could not file patent application for inventions that they believed in good faith that they could not attain the standards to get a patent. Filing such patents would be in violation of ethical standards required by firms. As licensed patent attorney, Trzaska was bound to these standards and filing such patent would be in violation to these provisions. Therefore, he believed that the firm should not file the application even if they could not meet their annual quota. Because of his stance, the attorney was fired by the firm. 

Trzaska should not just watch as the research and development team (R&D) submit poor ideas. As such, his decision should be that he is ethical requires effective decision that does not jeopardize his professional conduct. While it is true that his duties are not about gate keeping, submitting poor patents just to attain the annual quota creates more pressure for Trazasksa’s team because it means that the goa must be attained irrespective of the method used (Grzincic, 2017). Imperatively, Trzaska’s stance may be unduly hard concerning the patentable work but he is right and should be commended by the French multinational beauty and cosmetic product manufacturer. While it is the duty of the U.S patent office to approval patent applications, Trzaska’s stance is commendable since he wants the R&D team to have good patents and not just patents to achieve the annual quota. 

Reference 

Findlaw (2018). Steven Trzaska v. L’Oreal USA Inc. Retrieved from 

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-3rd-circuit/1868806.html 

Grzincic, B. (2017 December 14). Fired patent lawyer’s lawsuit survives L'Oreal challenge; 

Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/loreal-patent/fired-patent-lawyers-lawsuit-survives-loreal-challenge-idUSL1N1OE05K