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Int. property
Tom Riley (triley@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU)
Wed, 8 Feb 1995 08:42:05 +0000
Intellectual property rights are much broader than copyrights, and you
can't copyright those things said and debated by voice in the public
domain. It is obvious that Indigenous peoples can copyright, and they can
patent, but there are major problems to these endeavours, including the
fact that there are certain obligations that go along with disclosure. I
think we are all a little naive on what the rights and obligations of
disclosure are. For most patented material there is no return. Disclosure
can be individual as well as corporate, but it holds the corporation to
obligations in law as well as individuals, and it implies a higher
authority than the corporate group that wants to disclose. No liberation
there!
When you decide to copyright a sacred chant, the copyright will run out in
a certain number of years. Is renewal limited? If it is, then rights have
been given away as well. Too bad.
Thomas J. Riley
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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