0.8 Traditional knowledge  (Page 2/24)

What types of traditional knowledge are most frequently used?

Exploitation of TK occurs in different forms. Examples include the unauthorized production of indigenous craft objects in the  souvenir market , the unauthorized use of indigenous imagery on  clothing ,  food products , or  toys , the unauthorized use of indigenous names or phrases as trademarks , the unauthorized incorporation of traditional dance into commercial  performances , and the unauthorized use of traditional music in commercial  musical productions .

What kind of legal liability governs?

What kinds of legal rules (if any) should govern use of traditional knowledge by people who are not members of communities from which the TK originates? This issue is being addressed on national, regional and international levels. TK might be protected through conventional IP law -- for example, through the use of Copyright law, Patent law, Geographical Indicators, or Certification Trademarks. However, many regions and countries have found it difficult to fit TK into traditional IP protection schemes. As a result, some have adopted  sui generis  laws that apply specifically to TK. Examples of these different approaches are discussed below.

How individual nations deal with traditional knowledge

Countries whose traditional ip laws do not cover traditional knowledge

Several nations have copyright laws that expressly exclude folklore from the list of works eligible for copyright protection. These include:  Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Slovenia, The Ukraine, Uzbekistan  and  Yemen . These countries tend to classify traditional knowledge as within the "public domain" and thus do not restrict use of or access to TK. For instance,  Article 9  of the 2002 Copyright Act of  Bosnia and Herzegovina  states that "the use of folk literature and art creations for the purpose of a literary, artistic or scientific arrangement shall be free."

Countries whose traditional ip laws cover traditional knowledge

Protection despite no explicit reference to tce

The traditional IP statutes in some nations contain no explicit references to folklore, but TCEs may still be protected in those nations under copyright law, other traditional intellectual property doctrines, or through special statutes. For example, most countries in Europe have copyright legislation that may be used to cover traditional knowledge, but do not have any provisions explicitly mentioning TCEs. These include:  Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark,Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, and  Switzerland . Several other "major industrialized countries" lack explicit TCE references as well. These include:  Australia, Canada, Japan, and the  United States . Additionally, several countries with recently-enacted copyright legislation have not expressly included TCEs within its scope. Included in this group are several Asian countries (such as  India, Malaysia, Philippines, and  Thailand ) and several Caribbean and South American countries (such as Barbados, El Salvador, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and  Venezuela ). Silence in these statutes, however, does not mean that traditional knowledge is unprotected. Rather, in these countries TCEs are protected on the basis of traditional IP, customary, regional or international laws or through  sui generis  legislation.