Journal of Intellectual Property Rights

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Ethics and IPR - Much Needed Legal Solutions for Tomorrow


Affiliations
1 Institute of Law, Faculty of Law and Administration, the University of Silesia in Katowice, 11b Bankowa Street, 40-009 Katowice, Poland
2 Institute of Chemistry, the University of Silesia in Katowice, 9 Szkolna Street, 40-006 Katowice, Poland
3 Process Integration Limited Station House, Stamford New Road Altrincham WA14 1EP, United Kingdom
 

This article considers the protection of authorship in scientific papers. We analysed the role of authorship in the light of the current legal and ethical framework. We have discovered that standard rules of copyright law refer to the relationship between the 'author' and the result of their creative activity. 'Authors' are not originators of a discovery, idea, procedure, theory, method or other immaterial contribution to research unless they have fixed the intellectual work in any tangible medium of expression. At times, it is challenging to identify scientific products, which are an essential contribution to research projects, which means that copyright law might not protect them. These two contexts, modern science and copyright law, allow us to conclude that ethical codes for researchers properly define the right to be an author of a scientific paper. The study aims to clarify that (1) international human rights guarantee the protection of the author's moral rights of the original contribution to the research project, (2) this obligation is not implemented correctly by national legislators, (3) national legislators' task is to create an adequate legal protection system for original contributions to research science according to the example of the solutions adopted by the German legislator.

Keywords

Human Rights, Legal and Ethical Rules of Authorship, Research Contribution, Authorship Attribution, Protecting Original Research Contribution, Responsibility
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  • Ethics and IPR - Much Needed Legal Solutions for Tomorrow

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Authors

Anna Chorazewska
Institute of Law, Faculty of Law and Administration, the University of Silesia in Katowice, 11b Bankowa Street, 40-009 Katowice, Poland
Ivana Stanimirova
Institute of Chemistry, the University of Silesia in Katowice, 9 Szkolna Street, 40-006 Katowice, Poland
Kamil Oster
Process Integration Limited Station House, Stamford New Road Altrincham WA14 1EP, United Kingdom

Abstract


This article considers the protection of authorship in scientific papers. We analysed the role of authorship in the light of the current legal and ethical framework. We have discovered that standard rules of copyright law refer to the relationship between the 'author' and the result of their creative activity. 'Authors' are not originators of a discovery, idea, procedure, theory, method or other immaterial contribution to research unless they have fixed the intellectual work in any tangible medium of expression. At times, it is challenging to identify scientific products, which are an essential contribution to research projects, which means that copyright law might not protect them. These two contexts, modern science and copyright law, allow us to conclude that ethical codes for researchers properly define the right to be an author of a scientific paper. The study aims to clarify that (1) international human rights guarantee the protection of the author's moral rights of the original contribution to the research project, (2) this obligation is not implemented correctly by national legislators, (3) national legislators' task is to create an adequate legal protection system for original contributions to research science according to the example of the solutions adopted by the German legislator.

Keywords


Human Rights, Legal and Ethical Rules of Authorship, Research Contribution, Authorship Attribution, Protecting Original Research Contribution, Responsibility

References