4.1 Biomatrix case exercises - student module

Caution: This module is still in its developmental phase. It is being tested by Business Ethics students at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Biomatrix was a biotechnology company that manufactured Synvisc, a lubricant injected into the knee to take the place of natural lubricants that disappear with age. From April 1999 to August 2000, a series of messages (16,000 in all) highly critical of this company were posted on the Yahoo financial bulletin board. These postings may have led to a sharp drop in the company's stock value during this period. Three individuals were identified as the authors of these messages. When they were unable to substantiate the accusations made in the messages, they were found guilty of defamation. This module provides a time line and exercises that allow students to explore the details of this case. Research for this case was carried out in conjunction with Computing Cases, an NSF-funded project devoted to developing and displaying cases studies in computer ethics in an online format. Biomatrix along with nine other cases will be published by Jones&Bartlett as Good Computing: A Virtue Approach to Computer Ethics, a textbook in computer ethics. This module is being developed as a part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF-SES-0551779.