2015, Pages 769–778
Indigenous Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights
- Available online 17 February 2015
Abstract
This
article aims to give both an overview as well as to develop certain
critical thinking tools that can help a reader engage with the
complexity and diversity of Indigenous knowledge and intellectual
property rights. It considers the cultural specificity of intellectual
property law as well as looking at sites of contemporary struggle.
Embedded in the article are questions of knowledge and power as well as
how historical legacies of colonialism continue to affect the way we
interpret the world and its cultures. The article also raises questions
about legal authority and the way frameworks for participation and
interpretation in legal contexts are produced and made available to
parties that have been marginalized from such spaces.
Keywords
- Art;
- Bioprospecting;
- Colonialism;
- Indigenous knowledge;
- Indigenous peoples;
- Intellectual property law;
- International developments;
- Museums;
- World intellectual property organization
