Intellectual property rights are workers’ rights
Evaluating and modernising intellectual property rights (IPR) have been one of the European Commission’s major points of interest this year. It has sparked discussions about the ownership of rights and about the ‘open access’ approach.
Highly-skilled professionals actively contribute to research, development and innovation during their work life. For this reason, Eurocadres thinks that clarifying and setting fair IPR could be done in the social dialogue discussions on all levels. The current patchwork of different national regulations as well as gaps in IPR provisions makes the ownership of the copyright rather imprecise.
Clear rules on intellectual property are needed so that people who complete work tasks are adequately compensated.
Clear rules on intellectual property are needed so that people who complete work tasks are adequately compensated. In the process of regulating IPR, a fair balance between fundamental rights should be fulfilled: i.e. privacy, freedom of speech and freedom of establishment. For instance, journalists, academics and teachers face increasing demands to sign contracts that could deprive their rights.
According to Eurocadres, it is vital for knowledge-sharing that the ‘open access’ approach benefits research institutes and the public interest. Often the institutes end up paying twice for the same publication as they must pay for the access or subscription.
During the last Executive Committee meeting, Eurocadres adopted a position on IPR. You can read the full text here.