Hi, I'm Tony Teleky

Engineers as Managers

Segment I

This first segment of EGRMGMT 520 focused on basic business law understandings important for engineers as

managers. As engineers advance into managerial (as opposed to strictly technical) roles, they are responsible for
understanding the relationships among many parties and for managing the risks associated with their companies’
endeavors. Many of these relationships are defined by contract, and many of these risks are best understood through
the lenses of contract law, tort law, and ethics. In this first part, we focused on understanding:

• Some very basic fundamentals of the US legal system (to provide context for all 3 Segments of the course);

• The basic law of contract (contract formation, terms, termination/breach, remedies) and its application to engineering management;

• The basic law of tort (especially negligence and products liability) and its role in overall risk assessment and management; and

• Issues of ethics and how the professional responsibilities of engineers shape individual actions and industry standing.

Engineers as Entrepreneur

Segment II

Engineers will typically possess the skills to develop new inventions and technologies that, if properly curated, can lead to the next highly successful companies. New businesses face innumerable decisions and look to lawyers and other professionals for guidance and counsel on a range of legal and business issues. The more astutely entrepreneurial engineers can identify the most critical of these issues and “speak the language” of start-up law, the more likely a new venture will secure funding, avoid obstacles, and be positioned for long-term success. This segment exposed me to key learnings:

• Basic choice of entity considerations;

• An overview of the “the venture capital cycle” and other ways we fund our ventures;

• The basics of business associations (structure, agency, fiduciary duties, etc.);

• Some fundamental considerations when leaving a current employer;

• Building a team and the importance of management and expertise; and

• Recognizing and navigating risk in all of its forms, most importantly, financial, legal and regulatory risk.

In addition to a general framework for understanding the law in critical areas, I gained practical advice from two key perspectives:

1. The perspective of a resource-limited start-up; and

2. The perspective of an early-stage investor or potential acquirer of the venture.

Understanding both of these perspectives enhanced my ability to play a role—whether as a founder, technical advisor, employee, etc.—in the launch of a potential new company.

Intellectual Property

Segment III

Whether involving technological innovations, branding of products, or artistic expression, IP is valued and protected under U.S. law. This final segment of the course introduced me to develop some basic legal intuition about how IP can be identified, protected, and leveraged. We studied four primary types of IP:

• patents including how they are used to exclude others from making, having made, using, selling, offering for sale, and importing products or services related to the claimed inventions;

• trade secrets including the challenges of maintaining them;

• copyrights including how readily they are created and how important they are to our electronic/software driven world;

• trademarks including their central role in designating the source of goods and services.

This course delved into the practical and real-world aspects of IP. We learned from examples of actual businesses relying on IP or caught in disputes about it. IP is treated so seriously in the U.S. legal system that when a dispute arises, billions of dollars and/or a company’s very existence and/or even personal freedom may be at stake for alleged wrongdoing. Patent, copyright, or trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and unfair competition carry serious consequences in the form of monetary damages, injunctions, and even imprisonment.