Irish Equity hosted an online discussion on ‘Contracts, Your Rights and the EU Copyright Directive’ on 11th January which focused on how greater protection can be secured for the intellectual property rights of film workers in Ireland. In a statement following the webinar, the participants including representatives of Irish and UK Equity, the International Federation of Actors and the Writers and Screen Directors guilds of Ireland said: “Together these organisations represent the copyright holders whose creative talents underpin Ireland’s burgeoning audio-visual sector. They came together for this online event because the rights of all performers, writers, composers, and directors are being systematically undermined by the buyout contracts issued by a number Irish producers and production companies. These contracts are fundamentally incompatible with the copyright protections enshrined in the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 and in the EU Copyright in the Digital Single Market directive, as they are expressly conceived to strip artists of their fundamental property rights as enshrined in legislation, reduce the potential earnings of these actors, writers, composers, and directors, and make a mockery of the extraordinary taxpayer investment in the audio-visual sector. The rights of these creative workers, including the right to equitable, proportionate and appropriate remuneration for the ongoing financial life of a production, are protected in law and are systematically and continually flaunted. We call on the government to ensure that the protections of the EU Copyright Directive as transposed into Irish law be fully and meaningfully implemented, with immediate effect. Pursuant to this we demand that any and all applications for public funding to the audio-visual sector, be it through section 481 or any agency, be accompanied by a written commitment that all contracts for creatives engaged comply fully with the legislation, including copyright rules, in both word and intent. This must be a mandatory requirement for any and all companies operating in the audio-visual sector in receipt of taxpayer funding.” Gerry O’Brien, President of |Irish Equity said: “It is vital that the intellectual property of indigenous performers, writers, directors and composers, whose creative excellence contributes so much to Irish success on the international market, be acknowledged, protected and properly remunerated. It is the right to an ongoing share of the revenue from that success of our work that allows us to have a sustainable career. It is no longer acceptable that we have to sign away valuable property rights in order get a day’s work.” Among those who also addressed the meeting were International Federation of Actors General Secretary, Dominick Luquer, Equity UK Assistant General Secretary, John Barclay, Writers Guild of Ireland Director, Hugh Farley, and Screen Directors Guild of Ireland General Secretary, Birch Hamilton.
Irish Equity calls for protection of film workers intellectual property rights
