The Fight for "Intellectual Property Rights" - the Example of the European Directive on Software Patents

In the current public debate about a reform of EU intellectual property rights the trade unions hardly play any role. However, the newly proposed amendments will have an impact on employed and self-employed workers as well as on the power relationship of labour and capital. The article intends to contribute a theoretical discussion about intellectual property rights issues in context of labour market changes towards a service-oriented and knowledge-based society. Using the example of software development, the contribution demonstrates what types of strategies companies apply to control and exploit programmers. These issues are dealt with by focusing on interest formation processes at EU-level and the role and behaviour of German and Austrian unions. We conclude that the responses of the unions towards the growing importance of knowledge work and the emergence of new conflicts between labour and capital remain incomprehensive.