iswamohan Pani, a low-level engineer at Intel, apparently stole trade secrets worth a billion dollars from the company.

His plot was simple. According to aBusinessweekarticle, he scheduled his resignation from Intel for June 11, 2008. He'd accumulated vacation time, however, so he wasn't actually in the office during June, even though he officially remained an employee. That employee status allowed him access to Intel's computer network and sensitive information about next-generation microprocessor prototypes. He downloaded the files, and he did it from his new desk at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which is Intel's chief rival. Pani had simply arranged to begin his new AMD job while officially on vacation from Intel.

Why did he do it? The article speculates that "Pani obtained Intel's trade secrets to benefit himself in his work at AMD without AMD's knowledge that he was doing so, which is a fairly frequent impulse among employees changing jobs: to take a bit of work product from their old job with them."[10]

According to Nick Akerman, a New York lawyer who specializes in trade secret cases, "It's amazing how poorly most companies [protect their trade secrets]."[11]

After being caught, Pani faced charges in federal court for trade secret theft, with a possible prison term of ten years. He pleaded innocent, maintaining that he downloaded the material for his wife to use. She was an Intel employee at the time and had no plans to leave.

1. Can the fact that Pani got the information so easily be used to build an ethical case that what he did wasn't wrong?If not, why not?If so, what does the case look like?

2. Ethically, does it matter whether Pani was a key author of the taken documents?Why or why not?

3. According to the article, a lot of people do what Pani did. Is that a justification for his action?Explain.

4. Did Pani have a responsibility to formally end his employment status with Intel before joining AMD, or is it OK for him to be vacationing from Intel while working at AMD?Whose interests need to be considered to answer this question thoroughly?

5. As James Carlini, a professor at Northwestern University, points out in an essay,[12]it is accepted wisdom in the world of business ethics that employees leaving a company ought to provide two-weeks' notice to employers.Use the Pani case to make the argument that employees should notify employers that they're leaving only at the last moment.

6. Pani left intel after receiving a poor job review.Probably he was mad about that.From a utilitarian perspective - one that defines the ethical good as the greatest good for the greatest number over the long haul - would Pani have acted more ethically had he stormed into his boss's office and screamed at the guy and quit instead of biting his tongue, getting a job elsewhere, and doing what he did?Explain.