"Your Country, Your Call" - Your IP?
It has been widely publicised that the Your Country Your Call competition, which closed on 30 April 2010, yielded in or around 9,000 entries. The competition is designed, in the words of its promoter An Smaoineamh Mor Limited, to find two major proposals that when implemented will transform the Irish economy by creating jobs and opportunity.
Proposals were accepted in relation to nine categories: communications & technology; design, engineering & manufacturing; education & the arts; energy & the environment; food & agriculture; health, sport & nutrition; professional services; tourism & hospitality; and other.
Recently the intellectual property provisions contained in the competition terms and conditions have also attracted attention. Section 7.2 provides that, at the option of An Smaoineamh Mor, the winning participants, in consideration of entry into the competition, shall irrevocably transfer to An Smaoineamh Mor all right, title and interest in and to the winning proposals and all IP rights therein. The winning participants further agree to waive all moral rights to which they might be entitled, which would include the right at all times to be identified as the author of the work.
All participants should therefore be aware that in the event that they win the competition they may be precluded from exploiting their proposal at a later date. However as the relevant section only applies to the winning entries, those that are not successful should still retain any basic IP rights they have in their work. Two winners are due to be announced on 17 September 2010, and will each receive €100,000. A further €500,000 is being put aside for the implementation of each of the winning proposals.
