Q:Determine appropriate methods of protecting intellectual property for specific situations , using a basis the Engineers Australia , Code of Ethics (or equivalent)

This question is roughly based on a case study.

In the case study provided, Peter Border works for Trueblood Enterprises, a small mechanical design and manufacturing company. Peter is one of the 2 engineers responsible for design and analysis division. Upon receiving a contract from Cranbrook Excavators, Peter and Rohan (the senior engineer) were given the task of designing the excavation buckets. A design was prepared in a short period of time by both engineers which was considered safe. Claude, the engineer in charge of the manufacturing process rushed the analysis work in order to get the parts into production. As a result of manufacturing demands, sufficient time was not allotted to carry out further analysis work required to make sure safety and fatigue distribution. Parts were manufactured and delivered on time which lead to a further order of 100 parts due in next 18 months.

Peter upon further analysis of the part comes up with improved design and realizes that the existing design created the possibility of fatigue failure in long-term. Peter raised his concerns to the senior engineer and explained that the current design was likely to suffer from fatigue failure at 15,000 hours instead of the required 20,000 hours as per the contract. The firm's owner decides to ignore both engineers and goes ahead with the manufacturing.