This is a Weblog aimed at providing original, open-access and subscriber-based news and analysis on international IP policy making.
The site includes a number of posts on various issues of Indigenous Intellectual property rights. Some highlights from these include the following:
3 March 2008: Indigenous Groups Express Concerns On IP Protection Of Their Knowledge
This post discusses an informal meeting held by Indigenous groups in February, during the meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) in Geneva. The informal meeting was to develop an approach on how the WIPO should proceed in protecting indigenous and traditional knowledge. Discussion includes whether patents can protect Indigenous knowledge, and how to rationalize western concepts not found in indigenous cultures, for example, concepts such as ownership and stewardship.
7 March 2008: Inside Views: Interview With Debra Harry, Indigenous People’s Council on Biocolonialism
This link includes a video interview with Debra Harry, a member of the Northern Paiute from Pyramid Lake, Nevada, and founder and executive director of the Indigenous People’s Council on Biocolonialism. The interview was recorded at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore in Geneva. In the interview, the WIPO interviewer asks the questions: “What needs to be done to protect traditional knowledge and genetic resources in a way acceptable to the indigenous peoples who own them? What rights are in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples?”
Harry argues that the indigenous peoples hold inherited prior rights to the knowledge and resources. She argues that traditional knowledge represents the cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples and is very specific to them. As outsiders have begun to mine this knowledge for commercial benefits, regulations need to be developed to help protect rights of indigenous peoples. Regulations are currently aimed at protecting inventions and market commodities. Cultural heritage is not a commodity rather is part of cultural people and cultural heritage.
6 December 2006: Inside Views: Indigenous Groups Tell WIPO, ‘Don’t Patent Our Traditional Knowledge’
This post presents the interesting argument by Indigenous groups that attempts to patent their Indigenous Knowledge will pose more threats rather than provide protection.
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