Indigenous Intellectual Property Rights: An Interview with Wend Wendland

ABSTRACT

The Director of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s Traditional Knowledge Division, Wend Wendland, shares his expertise in Indigenous Intellectual Property (IP) Rights. He introduces major IP instruments supporting Indigenous rights, and comments on significance of these instruments for the work of libraries and information professionals. He also shares current developments at WIPO that mark a major point in the history of IP policy and reflects on possible impact on these developments on Indigenous communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous intellectual property rights
• traditional knowledge
• intellectual property

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. “Indigenous and Local Community Entrepreneurship,” World Intellectual Property Organization, https://www.wipo.int/tk/en/entrepreneurship/index.html (accessed October 17, 2022).

2. “Protect and Promote Your Culture, A Practical Guide to Intellectual Property for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities,” World Intellectual Property Organization, last modified 2017, https://www.wipo.int/publications/en/details.jsp?id=4195 (accessed October 17, 2022).

3. Jane Anderson and Molly Torsen, “Intellectual Property and the Safeguarding of Traditional Cultures: Legal Issues and Practical Options for Museums, Libraries and Archives,” last modified 2012, https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/tk/1023/wipo_pub_1023.pdf (accessed October 17, 2022).

4. Wend Wendland, “International Negotiations on Indigenous Knowledge to Resume at WIPO: A View of the Journey So Far and the Way Ahead,” WIPO Magazine, last modified February 2022, https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine_digital/en/2022/article_0001.html (accessed October 17, 2022).

5. “Traditional Knowledge and Copyright: An Interview with Wend Wendland, Director of the WIPO Traditional Knowledge Division,” International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, last modified April 23, 2019, https://www.ifla.org/news/traditional-knowledge-and-copyright-an-interview-with-wend-wendland-director-of-the-wipo-traditional-knowledge-division/ (accessed October 17, 2022).

6. “WIPO Visits the Ethnographic Museum of Geneva,” World Intellectual Property Organization, last modified July 2, 2021, https://www.wipo.int/tk/en/news/tk/2021/news_0015.html (accessed October 17, 2022).

7. See the guide referenced in the Note 3.