Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions

A WIPO document, Note on the Meanings of the Term “Public Domain” in the Intellectual Property System with Special Reference to the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions/Expressions of Folklore, WIPO/GRTKF/IC/17/INF/8, pro- vides a detailed analysis of the application of this concept to the protection of TK and TCEs. [...] questions as to the relationship In 2007, the United Nations General between the patent system and the Assembly adopted the United Nations conservation and sustainable use of Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous biodiversity and the equitable sharing Peoples. [...] These include the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), and the 19. [...] It also forms part of the context of the promotion of cultural diversity and of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005). [...] For example, to whom do the TCEs in the collections belong? To whom do the rights in the TCEs belong? Who should deter- mine the conditions for display, access and use of the material in the collections? How should an institution respond to the cultural and customary needs of the traditional holders of the TCEs in its collection? How could traditional holders gain more control on the representatio.