Protecting Indigenous Property

In this briefing memorandum, indigenous scholars discuss intellectual property rights as perceived by indigenous nations. Noting the right to collective ownership as an essential element of indigenous culture, the authors clarify the fundamental difference in cultural perspectives that presently plagues relations between corporations, states and indigenous peoples.

Protecting indigenous property, as they observe, requires developing a legal system to regulate access to indigenous traditional knowledge. Characterizing the present non-indigenous international legal system, the authors remark that, “The absence of mutual respect is anarchy”.