Girsberger, Martin A. --- "Legal Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions: A Policy Perspective" [2008] ELECD 327; in Graber, Beat Christoph; Burri-Nenova, Mira (eds), "Intellectual Property and Traditional Cultural Expressions in a Digital Environment" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: Intellectual Property and Traditional Cultural Expressions in a Digital Environment

Editor(s): Graber, Beat Christoph; Burri-Nenova, Mira

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847209214

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Legal Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions: A Policy Perspective

Author(s): Girsberger, Martin A.

Number of pages: 27

Extract:

6. Legal protection of traditional cultural
expressions: a policy perspective
Martin A. Girsberger*

1. INTRODUCTION
Every nation claiming to be a part of the civilized world is proud of its cultural
heritage. Folklore is probably the most important and well-acclaimed component of
the cultural heritage of a nation. It can reflect the essentials of a nation's cultural
attributes as in a mirror and is recognized as a basis for its cultural and social iden-
tity. Nations all over the world are quite possessive about this valuable heritage and
express very strong sentiments about the management of the rich resource.1

For several decades now, traditional cultural expressions (TCE) and their
legal protection have been discussed at the international level.2 A number of
international fora are involved in these discussions and several international
instruments have been adopted to date, including legally binding agreements,
conference resolutions and model provisions. Despite this progress, many
issues ­ even very fundamental ones ­ remain unresolved.
TCE entered the international debate for various reasons. These include the
call for an increased recognition of indigenous peoples and their rights, such
as the right to self-determination; the loss of TCE and the apparent need for
their preservation;3 cases of perceived or actual misappropriation of TCE; and


* The views expressed herein are the views of the author and do not necessar-
ily coincide with the views of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property or any
other Swiss government agency.
1 WIPO, A Study on the ...