Charlotte Duly of the MARQUES Education Team reviews a new book “Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Cultural Heritage”, edited by Irini Stamatoudi (published by Edward Elgar Publishing, priced £235 and available here).

MARQUES, including the Class 46 blog, is no stranger to issues covering cultural heritage and solutions that may exist to help communities with protecting their traditional cultural expressions. Protection of cultural heritage can be tricky, particularly in areas such as fashion, where the distinction between cultural appreciation (and inspiration) and cultural appropriation can be a fine line.

This book brings together a group of high-level scholars to explore the many areas of this broad and important topic, including the protection of cultural heritage by trade marks, copyright, designs and patents. The role of trade secrets and unfair competition to protect intangible cultural assets, the preservation of street art and graffiti, and many other aspects, are considered along with various practices and practical suggests for protecting cultural heritage and knowledge. 

The essays explore how IP laws intersect with cultural heritage laws, how they work together and where they conflict, with IP laws mainly pertaining to the private sphere, while cultural heritage laws may be regarded as looking to achieve a common good.

Geographical indications (GIs)

Of likely interest to many MARQUES members, a familiar form of protection for certain items of cultural heritage are GIs. For example, a number of GIs have been obtained for items of traditional handicraft.

The role of GIs may be seen as allowing the commercialisation of certain items, while protecting the unique characteristics of that item and preventing unfair competition or confusion, without looking to necessarily protect the item of cultural heritage in its own right.

This commercial aim may therefore not be appropriate for, or desirable in relation to, all items of cultural heritage. Further, not all items of cultural heritage can be protected by GIs, and the book provides a useful consideration of the issues in this complex area.

Traditional cultural expressions (TCEs)

Cultural heritage includes TCEs. The types of TCEs are almost limitless and may include music, dance, art, designs, names, signs and symbols, performances, ceremonies, architectural forms, handicrafts and narratives. These form part of the identity and heritage of a traditional or indigenous community and many are not tangible but are passed down from generation to generation.

As well as GIs, copyright may be appropriate for some TCEs, as well as trade marks or designs, but where the TCE is intangible it can be more difficult to ensure adequate protection. Such issues are discussed within the book.

The way forward

This book provides interesting food for thought as to the extent regulation is required and whether education might be an equally powerful tool in some circumstances.

While protection of cultural heritage is understandably steeped in history, the book contemplates many modern issues such as digitisation of works of cultural heritage and the implications of 3D printing.

This is a well-thought-out and thought-provoking text that is likely to be of interest to a wide range of individuals, not just IP lawyers.

Charlotte Duly is Head of Brand Protection at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP and a member of the MARQUES Education Team.