Intangible heritage and intellectual property: challenges and future prospects (kor).

Journal article

Vol LVI, no. 1-2, ; Page 71-81 ; Illustrations.

1350-0775

The adoption in late 2003 of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (the Convention) adds significantly to UNESCO’s already impressive range of international instruments for the safeguarding of heritage. The intangible cultural heritage of an indigenous people or other cultural community reflects and embodies its history, values and beliefs, in short, its very cultural and social identity. The safeguarding of this heritage is an important contribution to preserving and promoting respect for the traditions and ways of life of the world’s diverse peoples and cultural communities. As the Convention notes, the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage is also linked to the promotion of cultural diversity and of human creativity and innovation. Article 3(b) of the Convention states that nothing in the Convention may be interpreted as ‘affecting the rights and obligations of States Parties deriving from any international instrument to which they are parties relating to intellectual property rights or to the use of biological and ecological resources’. Leaving aside for present purposes the reference to instruments dealing with biological and ecological resources, what is the relevance of intellectual property to the subject matter of the Convention? What is the nature of the relationship between intellectual property ‘protection’ and the ‘safeguarding’ of intangible cultural heritage? This article briefly examines these questions further, with reference to work taking place at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) concerning the protection of traditional knowledge and expressions of traditional cultures/folklore.

Access through UNESCO Digital Library

Museum International : Intangible Heritage (Korean) ; Volume LVI., No. 1-2 ; UNESCO, 2004.

Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.

Korean

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