Three friends have decided to form a firm to design and manufacture nanotechnology devices for medical applications. Michael Rogers has worked for Hewlett-Packard for 12 years and on his own has designed and submitted a patent claim for a nanotechnology manufacturing technology.

Steve Allegro, a graduate student, has a software program he has developed for the design of nanotechnology medical devices. Alicia Simmons, CFO of Alletech Software Inc., is a skilled and experienced manager. Shall they incorporate immediately? What is the problem, if any, of using Rogers’s patent ideas? Simmons has knowledge of several manufacturing trade secrets of Alletech. Can she use these secret methods at her new firm?