products have been patented and otherwise protected as proprietary products of intellectual property .
Drive out to the country during growing season , and you will see signs identifying that the crop has been grown with a protected seed that cannot be used to produce retained seed for planting in the next growing season .
In terms of this week ’ s TCOs , what ethical issues are raised by this legal process of patent protection , and how do we see the primary schools of ethics used in these proprietary measures ? What , in this deontological week and in our learning to date , informs our understanding of this situation , and what should be done about it ?