Weblog Post for Module 3:
Andrew Shedden
The general thread I wanted to follow for the research weblog is Indigenous Intellectual Property Rights.
Cultural Survival: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/
This site is dedicated to “advancing Indigenous People’s Rights and Cultures Worldwide”. This site offers opportunities to donate to support Indigenous People’s right to participate and have a voice to speak in their own language. You can donate either “resources” or “time”, giving multiple opportunities to participate. I think that one of the best ways to empower Indigenous groups is to bring them together. This organization seems like a good way to connect cultures and communities in a way that is mutually advantageous.
Who owns Indigenous cultural and intellectual property- Article by Andrea Bear Nicholas
This recent article is a fascinating look at the current Canadian laws surrounding Indigenous Culture and Intellectual property in Canada. Nicholas outlines specific issues with this policy, in which she asserts: “Canada’s laws, on the other hand, have worked not only to ignore and/or specifically deny the rights of Indigenous peoples to practice and maintain their cultural and intellectual property but also to legalize the theft of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property through the Copyright Act”. Nicholas asserts that the government of Canada must implement changes to the law to protect these rights.
IP back to the future: Special Report: Intellectual Property- Article by Jennifer Brown
http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/6047/IP-back-to-the-future.html
This article also deals with legal specifics about Indigenous traditional cultural knowledge, and how this is protected by copyright laws. The author suggests that the current laws aren’t totally suitable to protect Indigenous Intellectual Property Rights. I think a legal perspective is very important on this matter, particularly to how this pertains to Canadian law. Emerging digital technologies are disrupting previously held legislations regarding copyright, and it’s interesting to see how this applies to Indigenous culture and custom.
Inside Views: No Need of IPRs For Protecting Traditional Knowledge- Article by R.S. Praveen Raj
https://www.ip-watch.org/2015/09/03/no-need-of-ipr-route-for-protecting-traditional-knowledge/
This article presents an interesting perspective on Indigenous Intellectual Property Rights. The author here is suggesting that we need to be very careful in assigning Intellectual Property Rights to Traditional Knowledge because this produces “private spaces” in what is traditionally public knowledge. According to the author, Traditional Knowledge Docketing Systems is a way to preserve the location of traditional knowledge, information about the community that possesses traditional knowledge and specific information about community protocol. This author is dealing with primarily Traditional Knowledge from India, but it’s interesting to see this perspective, and to consider how this could be used to inform the future of Canada’s copyright laws in regards to Indigenous Intellectual Property.
World Intellectual Property Organization and Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property- Arts Law: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f66m77mp2m0&t=53s
This video outlines the role of the World Intellectual Policy Organization (WIPO), and how it relates to the protection Indigenous Cultural Expression. This video outlines work done by WIPO to address the needs to protect Indigenous Cultural Expression in terms of international copyright law. It’s interesting to see how this organization is a subset of the United Nations. Most countries have their own specific copyright laws. I would like to know how much real power WIPO has in enforcing copyright considerations for Indigenous people