Using intellectual property tools to protect traditional cultural expressions/traditional knowledge related issues at arts festivals

This paper provides information on intellectual property issues that arise in relation to arts festivals, with a specific focus for traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) and traditional knowledge (TK) related issues. The Festival of Pacific Arts is a celebration of Pacific arts, culture and knowledge. A great wealth of TCEs and TK will be showcased at the Festival including music, dance, drama, photography, craft, visual arts, sculpture, cultural practices including food preparation, canoeing, basket-making and medicinal preparations. To protect against intellectual property infringement and TCE/TK appropriation, a mix of IP tools such as copyright and trade marks, as well as contracts, and protocols can be useful

Music: protocols for producing Indigenous Australian music

The Australia Council for the Arts fully revised second edition of its Music protocol guide, designed to help Australians better understand the use of Indigenous cultural material

Indigenous Knowledge and Culture in Australia — The Case for Sui Generis Legislation

This article makes the case for the implementation of sui generis legislation in Australia for the protection of Indigenous knowledge and culture. The article commences with a review of Australia’s historical engagement with the issue of protecting Indigenous knowledge and culture, and then considers Australia’s international obligations within this context. The article then provides an analysis of what has been implemented across Australia in response to its international obligations. The key issues regarding the protection of Indigenous knowledge and culture are considered together with an analysis of how international developments and domestic studies and reports are addressing those issues. Based on this experience, the authors argue for a sui generis legislative regime to protect Indigenous knowledge and culture in Australia

Celebrating and sustaining Indigenous knowledges through research

This paper reports on the growth of research within the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC). The focus is the research and later, research and journal working group. The intent is to discuss the publication of the WINHEC Journal, discussion papers and other activities such as the development of the Research Standards while analysing the underpinning imperatives to such work. The paper will also examine the complexity of progressing research, founded in local knowledge, aligned internationally to broader conceptions of Indigenous knowledge. The suggestion underlying this paper is that if research is undertaken from a position of Indigenous knowledge and epistemology, it will celebrate and sustain Indigenous people

Creating Capital from Culture - Re-thinking the Provisions on Expressions of Folklore in Ghana\u27s Copyright Law

This paper examines three tensions created by the manner in which Ghana’s TCEs are regulated under the Copyright Act. The first tension is the divergence between the context of private rights and communally created works. While one of the fundamental principles of copyright law is to reward specific and identifiable sources of creativity, Act 690 grants copyright in communally created art. There is also divergence between the usual designated duration of copyright and the antiquated nature of most expressions of folklore, including kente and adinkra expressions. The second tension arises from the fact that the placement of copyright in Ghana’s TCEs in the President as trustee of the whole nation removes from the authoring communities the right to economic reward and moral rights of attribution. The character of balanced intellectual property (IP) systems is articulated by WIPO as systems that “reward creativity, stimulate innovation and promote economic development while safeguarding the public interest.” Removing rewards from the authors of the protected art forms precludes these globally accepted objectives of IP law. The third tension arises in the law of human rights. Within international law, it is accepted that the right to benefit from the products of one’s creative authorship is a human right. Article 15(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)18 provide for this right. Article 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the right of a community of indigenous peoples to control and benefit from their cultural heritage as intellectual property. Furthermore, on the domestic front, Ghana’s Constitution guarantees the right to the free participation in ethnic culture. The state is also prohibited by the Constitution from taking over any interest in property without the payment of fair and adequate compensation. The issues addressed in this paper are particularly important because TCEs are a significant source of capital and wealth creation for indigenous communities in both developed and developing economies. This provides an impetus for ensuring legal arrangements that bring the greatest economic return to authors. Cite as: 18 Annl. Survey Int\u27l. Comp. L. 1 (2012)

Creating Capital from Culture - Re-thinking the Provisions on Expressions of Folklore in Ghana\u27s Copyright Law

This paper examines three tensions created by the manner in which Ghana’s TCEs are regulated under the Copyright Act. The first tension is the divergence between the context of private rights and communally created works. While one of the fundamental principles of copyright law is to reward specific and identifiable sources of creativity, Act 690 grants copyright in communally created art. There is also divergence between the usual designated duration of copyright and the antiquated nature of most expressions of folklore, including kente and adinkra expressions. The second tension arises from the fact that the placement of copyright in Ghana’s TCEs in the President as trustee of the whole nation removes from the authoring communities the right to economic reward and moral rights of attribution. The character of balanced intellectual property (IP) systems is articulated by WIPO as systems that “reward creativity, stimulate innovation and promote economic development while safeguarding the public interest.” Removing rewards from the authors of the protected art forms precludes these globally accepted objectives of IP law. The third tension arises in the law of human rights. Within international law, it is accepted that the right to benefit from the products of one’s creative authorship is a human right. Article 15(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)18 provide for this right. Article 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the right of a community of indigenous peoples to control and benefit from their cultural heritage as intellectual property. Furthermore, on the domestic front, Ghana’s Constitution guarantees the right to the free participation in ethnic culture. The state is also prohibited by the Constitution from taking over any interest in property without the payment of fair and adequate compensation. The issues addressed in this paper are particularly important because TCEs are a significant source of capital and wealth creation for indigenous communities in both developed and developing economies. This provides an impetus for ensuring legal arrangements that bring the greatest economic return to authors. Cite as: 18 Annl. Survey Int\u27l. Comp. L. 1 (2012)

Opening Futures for Nigerian Education – Integrating Educational Technologies with Indigenous Knowledge and Practices

This paper highlights some key historical perspectives and antecedents of African Indigenous knowledge (AIK) and practices while identifying ‘open’ futures and opportunities for the application of digital technologies for educational opportunities that build on this cultural base. The role and negative impact of colonialism in the under-development of AIK is examined in this context together with the impact of post-colonial and contemporary corruption in further undermining the value of Indigenous knowledge systems. Two key concepts are identified as a counterpoint to this: the resilience of AIK and ‘local wisdom’ and the openness underpinning much of the ongoing digital revolution. This natural alignment can help guide the integration of Indigenous-based knowledge and practices and the deployment of open and distance learning in the re-birth of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS). Openness is a pivotal concept here for it is integral to both the architecture of the Web and in its ongoing evolution. Given the identified opportunities associated with digital technology, and despite the challenges, it is argued that there is an unequivocal need for AIKS to explore the advantages of open education resources and practices in promoting this rebirth that is also consistent with modern science and technologies in Africa and beyond

Australia\u27s Heritage Protection Act: An Alternative to Copyright in the Struggle to Protect Communal Interests in Authored Works of Folklore

Australian indigenous communities are vulnerable to communal harm inflicted by the unauthorized, derogatory use of their works of folklore. Such works are often considered sacred to indigenous communities and are granted significant protection under customary law. However, under many circumstances, the 1968 Copyright Act, the Australian law governing authored works, fails to protect works of indigenous folklore. While an amendment to the Copyright Act appears a likely next step in Australia’s efforts to recognize a community’s interest in communal works of folklore, Australia’s Heritage Protection Act represents a more appropriate and efficient vehicle for addressing unique communal interests in these cultural works