INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE Professor Bernard Martin

UMUNTU NGUMUNTU NGABANTU

Introduction Framework Change Current Bill Protection issues Conclusions

Framework Individualist v Collectivist Environmental cataclysm Corporate Social Responsibility

Current Bill (i) Who (ii) Owns (iii) What (iv) For how long?”

Who owns Difficulty identifying “owner” Communal ownership – formal / existing IP: Erven Warnkink v Townend – “advocaat” Geographic indications Multiple holders

What? “Tradition-based literary, artistic or scientific works; performances; inventions; scientific discoveries; designs; marks, names and symbols; undisclosed information; and, all other tradition-based innovations and creations resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields.” - WIPO

Variety - TK forms ≈ IP: Copyright Patents Trade marks Designs Performers rights Trade secrets

TK: IP and Property Same elements - formal / existing IP Laugh It Off case - property

Protection Issues Defensive or offensive –Prevention –Sui generis –No benefit –Public domain depletion

Public domain –Western notion denies ownership deriving from immemorial user –Exclusive to community Time limitation –Connected to removal from public domain –Not universal Proof – Philippines Law

Patents –Novelty – not in public domain Copyright –Material form – not universal –Identifiable author – anonymous works Distinctive (trade) marks –Marketable goods (Ethiopian coffee) –Collective & certification marks Protection – non-traditional use

Conclusion Harmonisation of paradigms possible Environmental change Traditional knowledge – survival Amendment principles not alien Identification of owners Examples of communal ownership exist TK forms parallel to conventional IP

Sui generis – no financial rewards Public domain – no removal justifies perpetual rights Proof possible Novelty exists – public domain Copyright in non-material works Existing TK trade marks

IP or sui generis – details: benefits & articulation Harmonisation possible New paradigm – ex Africa semper aliquid nova Thank you! Nyabonga! Dankie!