Business Law Assignment

Part 1: Private company vs. Public company

Demonstrate the following knowledge and understanding:

• Demonstrate broad knowledge and understanding of key areas of business law.

Demonstrate the following skills and abilities:

• Utilise primary and secondary legal sources to demonstrate problem solving skills in a legal context.

What am I required to do in this assignment?

There are three parts to this assessment and all are equally weighted constituting 100% of the overall unit grade.

You must answer all three parts of this assessment.

What are they key distinctions between a private company and a public company?

Tabitha owns a shop selling vintage clothes and shoes.  She placed an advertisement in the free advert section of a local newspaper: ‘Unique opportunity to own a vintage pair of shoes for £350cash. Offer valid for one day only – tomorrow (Sunday)’.

On Sunday, Louise walked into the shop and asked Tabitha if she would take a cheque for £300 for the vintage shoes; however Tabitha refused to accept the cheque and told her that she could not have the shoes.

Later the same day Tabitha sold the shoes to Kay.

In the context of the rules governing the creation of contracts you are required to answer the following:

(a) Describe the precise legal nature of Tabitha’s advertisement;

(b) Explain whether Louise has any right of action against Tabitha.

Michelangelo runs a company called “Wowzah Ltd”. He created the company five years ago following the success of his weird and wacky products which he now exports to various buyers throughout Europe. Last month Michelangelo designed a brand-new product, a Tea/Coffee Making Robot, which can bring you a hot drink, made just the way you like it, to anywhere in your home, without spilling a drop. Michelangelo is very excited about this invention. He has yet to hear of anyone else who has designed such a product and thinks this can help his business expand into the US.

Advise Michelangelo on what grounds a patent is granted and the advantages and disadvantages of obtaining a patent.

Note on academic integrity: in all assessments, you are expected to adhere strictly to the principles of academic integrity. All written assignments are submitted electronically and checked for originality through Turnitin. In addition, should any doubt arise as to whether the written work submitted for assessment is your own work, you will be called by the Unit Co-ordinator for the purpose of a viva voce examination on the assessment.

In addition please take care in the quality of the websites which you use in preparation for this assessment. For example websites such as Wikipedia and Lawteacher.net are not reliable sources and should not be used in your assessments. If in doubt please check with your unit tutor.

• Identify the legal issues arising from factual scenarios/theoretical questions and apply the appropriate provisions and principles of business law to provide a correct legal assessment of those issues; and
• Write in a clear, grammatically correct and structured manner, with reference to relevant legal sources.

How do I produce high quality work that merits a good grade?

We will be filling this section in together in class on Click or tap to enter a date. make sure you have downloaded/printed out the Assignment Brief and bring it to the session with you.

How does assignment relate to what we are doing in scheduled sessions?

The assessment is practice based and mimics issues which you may be required to deal with in practice and in capacity as a business manager. The assessment is broad based which means that it draws across a range of topics covered within the unit. You will be expected to work on your assessment for the duration of the unit applying your knowledge as the unit develops in content. There will be also be time allocated within the unit structure to discuss the assessment.

Your assignment will be marked according to the threshold expectations and the criteria on the following page.

You can use them to evaluate your own work and consider your grade before you submit.