Today we started the new theme "You Are Hired!". Once again, we are dragged into the issues related to "bargaining" but the context is altogether different as the issues related to our discussion are intellectual property rights (IPR) and trade related property rights (TRPR).
One of the key issues raised in the "Open Source Development" case is the negotiating ability of the software professionals emphasizing on the fact that an employer does not own everything you do by law but only by the contract you may have signed. How many of us have the negotiating ability to pull off a better deal, without compromising on the professional interests, by critically look into the various clauses and analyze the pros and cons?
In this context, I thought of sharing with you the following interesting episode very much pertaining to our current theme discussion.
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INDIAN PLAYERS REFUSE TO SIGN ICC CONTRACT
Source: http://www.rediff.com/ 19th August 2002.
Indian cricketers on Monday night refused to sign the agreement for the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka and accused the International Cricket Council of 'boycotting' them.
The players sent a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India explaining the reasons for their decision, which said, "We believe by signing the player contract, we are caught totally in the middle."
"On the one hand, we suffer exposure from the ICC/BCCI when they could allege non-compliance with our obligations. On the other hand, we could face exposure from our competitive sponsors who have paid us for the right to exploit our brand and image commercially," the players said in a press release.
"We have been told that unless we sign a document which forces us to relinquish all our intellectual property and personal commercial rights, we would be ineligible to play for our country in tournaments conducted by the International Cricket Council.
"We are put in a peculiar situation where we are not boycotting the ICC run tournaments but the ICC is boycotting us," the players said.
The players also rejected BCCI's proposal to sign the agreement only for the Champions Trophy, after which it promised to take up the matter with ICC.
"The ICC restrictions are overly broad, covering not just the Champions Trophy but thirty days before and after. In the present case, therefore, by simply signing the contract, the ICC could already allege breach," the players said, pointing out that less than one month remained for the start of Champions Trophy.
"We want to play. We are not asking for anything more than that we have been getting. We are just not being allowed to play much against our wishes," they said.
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Like the case of "non-negotiable offer" from Darrel Hair, What can we learn from our heroes from this episode?
How do we look at the issues related to Marketing, Advertising, Brand Management, IPR, TRPR, Compensation etc., from the perspectives of Players, BCCI, ICC and other significant stakeholders?
While trying to analyze the issue kindly keep the following norms in mind.
- There are plenty of materials available in "public domain" in the internet. However, one is expected to use the information wisely without making everybody suffer from information overload. Let me remind you from our FAQs that we, as a batch, value your original meaningful contribution and "copy-pasting from internet" would be treated as plagiarism and dealt with as per the provisions in PGDM Students MoP.
- Secondly, while trying to present the facts and contexts, let us try to be precise without arguing like lawyers. Let us keep in mind that too much of description of facts would confuse the readers.
- Thirdly, do not try to be solely focusing on what you have to say but lend your ears, eyes, brain and even your heart to what others have to say on this issue. As far as I am concerned, I am going to restrain myself, to the extent possible, from making any comment to allow you act as moderators of each other as a learning community. Build on the analysis of other participants. Learn from the experience of Dialectic Forum 01 - Non-Negotiable Offer.
- You are required to participate only if the topic interests you. While every participation counts, desparate participation does not! This also means do not wait till the last day to make your contribution. As mentioned in the FAQs, "Ordinarily, each forum will be kept open for a week", but it may be closed anytime before if I think there are sufficient number of contributions covering the signficant issues pertaining to the forum.
- Last but not the least, I have requested participants to display their unique id i.e., Roll number, if not the full name as in the attendance. But many participants have not conformed with the quest. Kindly go to the settings and change the display name with your roll number. Non-compliance will lead to natural omission of the postings for the purpose of course involvement.
With Regards,
Ganesh
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