Can Modern Law Safeguard Archaic Cultural Expressions? Observations from a Legal Sociology Perspective

TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, TRADITIONAL CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION, Christoph Antons, ed, pp. 159-176. Kluwer Law International

NCCR Trade Working Paper No. 2007/09

17 Pages Posted: 6 Feb 2008 Last revised: 24 Apr 2012

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

The development of legal safeguards for traditional cultural expressions (TCE) at the international level faces many contradictions. One that is particularly interesting for lawyers trying to apply copyright instruments to protect TCE is the collision between modern and archaic perceptions of TCE. Copyrightbased approaches presuppose that TCE are works of art or literature. Anthropologists, however, point to the fact that TCE fulfil ritual or indicative functions, which are not comparable to the western concept of autonomous modern art underpinning the copyright definition of the protected work. This paper presents a closer look at collisions between the knowledge forms and principles of organisation of tribal societies and modern law. First, the reasons for such conflicts are explored and, second, human rights are introduced as collision norms.

Keywords: Traditional Cultural Expressions, TCE, Copyrights, Collision Norms, Human Rights

Suggested Citation

Graber, Christoph B., Can Modern Law Safeguard Archaic Cultural Expressions? Observations from a Legal Sociology Perspective (2009). TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, TRADITIONAL CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION, Christoph Antons, ed, pp. 159-176. Kluwer Law International, NCCR Trade Working Paper No. 2007/09, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1090800 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1090800

Christoph B. Graber (Contact Author)

University of Zurich, Faculty of Law ( email )

Treichlerstrasse 10
Zurich, 8032
Switzerland

HOME PAGE: http://www.ius.uzh.ch/en/staff/professorships/alphabetical/graber/person.html

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