Traditional Knowledge and Copyright

Erin Mackay, University of New South Wales Faculty of Law, has published "Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, Copyright and Art-Shortcomings in Protection and an Alternative Approach," at 32 UNSW Law Journal 1 (2009).

 

Whether Anglo-Australian intellectual property laws can adequately protect Indigenous traditional knowledge has sparked much debate. Part I of this paper examines the interaction between copyright law and Indigenous art, and argues that an approach based on copyright is largely misconceived and wrongly discourages a consideration of mechanisms that lie outside copyright law. There are possibilities beyond copyright that need to be explored, including a ‘sui generis’ framework of rights. Part II of the paper focuses on such a framework-in particular, what is intended to be achieved by such an approach and whether such a framework should be implemented in Australia is considered.

Download the article from SSRN here.