This publication is part of a series of background papers prepared by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) dealing with intellectual property issues in relation to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions/ folklore. It is intended to provide a comprehensive analysis of the policy issues that arise in the debate over improved intellectual property protection of TCEs/folklore, as an information resource for policy makers, negotiators, legislators, indigenous and traditional communities, users of traditional cultural expressions/folklore, researchers and others interested in exploring these issues in detail.
This is one of a series of Booklets dealing with intellectual property and genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions/folklore.
Intangible cultural heritage is the traditional practices, expressions, knowledge, and skills that form part of a community's culture. It is protected by a 2003 UNESCO Convention, and by several regional and national instruments. This book analyses its legal protection, including from within human rights, intellectual property, and contract law.
'This book performs a great service by drawing together the intellectual property law and experience of a number of countries in relation to the protection of traditional cultural expressions.' Peter Drahos, Australian National University This unique book provides an in-depth analysis of the different methods that have been proposed to protect traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) by using intellectual property rights. Intellectual Property and Traditional Cultural Expressions examines the possibility of protecting TCEs with copyright laws on the one hand, and 'origin related' intellectual property rights, such as trademarks, certification marks, geographical indications and laws against misrepresentation on the other. In particular, it examines which rights are conceptually best suited for the protection of TCEs, and appear more appropriate to meet the range of concerns raised by the holders of that knowledge and policymakers in culturally-rich developing countries. Providing a range of case studies, this book will prove a stimulating read for academics, practitioners, international organisations and policymakers. It will also greatly benefit law or political sciences postgraduate students with an interest in intellectual property and traditional knowledge, TCEs, and development.
Rules regulating access to knowledge are no longer the exclusive province of lawyers and policymakers and instead command the attention of anthropologists, economists, literary theorists, political scientists, artists, historians, and cultural critics. This burgeoning interdisciplinary interest in “intellectual property” has also expanded beyond the conventional categories of patent, copyright, and trademark to encompass a diverse array of topics ranging from traditional knowledge to international trade. Though recognition of the central role played by “knowledge economies” has increased, there is a special urgency associated with present-day inquiries into where rights to information come from, how they are justified, and the ways in which they are deployed. Making and Unmaking Intellectual Property, edited by Mario Biagioli, Peter Jaszi, and Martha Woodmansee, presents a range of diverse—and even conflicting—contemporary perspectives on intellectual property rights and the contested sources of authority associated with them. Examining fundamental concepts and challenging conventional narratives—including those centered around authorship, invention, and the public domain—this book provides a rich introduction to an important intersection of law, culture, and material production.
This publication, prepared under the aegis of the WIPO Creative Heritage Project by two external consultants, Ms. Molly Torsen and Dr. Jane Anderson, offers legal information and compiles practical experiences on the management of intellectual property for cultural institutions whose collections comprise traditional cultural expressions. It seeks to respond directly to the needs of cultural institutions and indigenous and traditional communities dealing with the preservation, safeguarding and protection of cultural heritage.
The work reviews issues concerning the protection of folklore through the intellectual property legal system, then explores two main issues in the protection of Chinese folklore. The first issue is the influence of Chinese traditional culture on the Chinese intellectual property legal system and Chinese society. The second concerns the deficiencies of the Chinese intellectual property system with regard to folklore. Both issues are examined through a survey on the weak public recognition of intellectual property law and folklore in Chinese society. The book also reveals the practical issues that have arisen in Southwest China through case studies. After analysing these issues, the work designs a model law specifically for folklore and also provides suggestions for how the current intellectual property legal system could establish a comprehensive legal protection system for folklore. Furthermore, the work shows that its proposed model law is effective in practice by resolving the issues in the case studies presented.
For indigenous cultures, property is an alien concept. Yet the market-driven industries of the developed world do not hesitate to exploit indigenous raw materials, from melodies to plants, using intellectual property law to justify their behaviour. Existing intellectual property law, for the most part, allows industries to use indigenous knowledge and resources without asking for consent and without sharing the benefits of such exploitation with the indigenous people themselves. It should surprise nobody that indigenous people object. Recognizing that the commercial exploitation of indigenous knowledge and resources takes place in the midst of a genuine and significant clash of cultures, the eight contributors to this important book explore ways in which intellectual property law can expand to accommodate the interests of indigenous people to their traditional knowledge, genetic resources, indigenous names and designations, and folklore. In so doing they touch upon such fundamental issues and concepts as the following: collective rights to the living heritage; relevant human rights norms; benefit-sharing in biological resources; farmers rights; the practical needs of documentation, assistance, and advice; the role of customary law; bioprospecting and biopiracy; and public domain. As a starting point toward mutual understanding and a common basis for communication between Western-style industries and indigenous communities, Indigenous Heritage and Intellectual Property is of immeasurable value. It offers not only an in-depth evaluation of the current legal situation under national, regional and international law including analyses of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other international instruments, as well as initiatives of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and other international bodies but also probes numerous further possibilities. While no one concerned with indigenous culture or environmental issues can afford to ignore it, this book is also of special significance to practitioners and policymakers in intellectual property law in relation to indigenous heritage. This book, here in its second edition, presents the most recent state of knowledge in the field.
The Routledge Handbook of Heritage and the Law sheds light on the relationship between the two fields and analyses how the law shapes heritage and heritage practice in both expected and unexpected ways. Including contributions from 41 authors working across a range of jurisdictions, the volume analyses the law as a transnational phenomenon and uses international and comparative legal methodologies to distil lessons for broad application. Demonstrating that the law is fundamentally a language of power and contestation, the Handbook shows how this impacts our views of heritage. It also shows that, to understand the ways in which the law impacts key aspects of heritage practice, it is important to tap into the possibilities of heritage as points of convergence of identity, struggles over resources, and the distribution of power. Framing heritage as a driver for legal engagement rather than a passive regulatory object, the book first reviews the legal fields or mechanisms that can shape action in the heritage field, then questions how these enable authority and give power to those who seize heritage, and finally envisions how the discussion between heritage and the law can lay new grounds in both those fields. Lifting the mists that often render the law opaque in heritage studies, the Handbook showcases the law as a medium through which the culture and the power of heritage are expressed and might be shared. The Routledge Handbook of Heritage and the Law presents a view of the law that is aimed at those who wish to reflect on how law has changed, or could change, what heritage is and how it can support social, cultural, local, or other development. It will be of interest to scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners working in the areas of museum studies, heritage studies, and urban studies, as well as in cultural intervention and planning. Chapter 8 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license. Chapter 34 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons (CC-BY) 4.0 license. The Routledge Handbook of Heritage and the Law | Lucas Lixinski, Lucie (taylorfrancis.com)
