Caution and Clarity is the way forward...

In the case at hand it is very evident that ICC wants the players to act as per their wishes and wants them to sign a document which relinquishes all of their intellectual property and personal commercial rights or else they can’t play for the country. Now considering the short careers that the players have, it is unjust on the part of the ICC to restrict the players from signing any commercial contracts, which they have earned through consistent high performance, until and unless it is impacting their game. If ICC tries to coercively make them sign any such document, it might directly impact their performance. As pointed out by some participants, the bargaining power with the employee depends on the relative importance of the employee in the organization, which was high in case of the players and hence they were in a position to raise their voice. Every employee may not enjoy a similar position and hence it is extremely necessary an employee should exercise caution before signing any contract. As discussed in the class, one should try to get the contract altered as deemed necessary before he signs it and in case that is not possible either one should command a price for the compromise or one should try to look for other organizations. Also, it is extremely important that an employee should be aware of his rights and should be extremely clear on the distinction between when he owns his work and when the employer does. As part of one’s job, if an employee drafts a newsletter for a company then the company and not the employee owns its rights under the “work for hire” clause. However, if the employee writes a novel or develops a computer application which isn’t his job in his spare time, then that’s owned by the employee and not the employer.