CPIP Summer Institute

Director Jorge A. Goldstein, Ph.D. was a panelist at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School’s Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property Summer Institute from July 23-25, 2019 in Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Jorge spoke on the panel, “Copyright & Cultural Appropriation,” about protection for indigenous traditional knowledge. In particular, Jorge touched on Sterne Kessler’s pro bono practice’s involvement with Ecoflora to obtain patents on the jagua tree’s blue powder and its applications.

Overview

The CPIP Summer Institute is an institute for IP scholars, policy analysts, and people who work in the innovation and creative industries. It’s an exclusive and intimate event for thought leaders in IP research and policy.

Copyright & Cultural Appropriation: From fashion to music to dance and the visual arts, the unauthorized appropriation of the cultural expressions and traditional knowledge of minority or indigenous groups permeates the creative arts. International legal frameworks have been developed to ensure that indigenous communities benefit from appropriation, but are these existing resolutions enough? This panel explored the ways cultural appropriation continues to influence art and authorship and ask how awareness, education, and global policies can both foster innovation and improve lives.