Commercializing Traditional Culture : Promises and Pitfalls in the Convergence of Intellectual Property Law and Cultural Heritage Law

Commercializing Traditional Culture : Promises and Pitfalls in the Convergence of Intellectual Property Law and Cultural Heritage Law

Journal article

15 pages

This article shows that the logics of intellectual property, even though pervasive in the legal treatment of traditional culture and its commercialization, needs to be tempered with the logic of cultural heritage law, which foregrounds different values and priorities. I argue that the regulation of culture depends on reconciling the role of the market in the both heritage law and intellectual property law, and putting the community front and centre in decision-making about the fate of traditional culture. In order to strike this balance, the market needs to be demystified and understood as a series of contractual arrangements, and contracts themselves need to be tapped into as a mechanism of private law-making that, once power asymmetries between culture holders and prospective exploiters are addressed, holds great promise for enabling the control over culture by the communities that create, recreate, and live the traditional culture outsiders cherish and wish to commercialize.

Published in : Annali italiani del diritto d'autore, della cultura e dello spettacolo (AIDA)

[Milano, Italy] : Giuffrè Editore, 2020.

Anglais