Fwd: Solomon Islands Information Network: Pacific Intellectual Property Rights
Sean Linton
It concerns some recordings made of music from Solomon Is. which was used inappropriately.
Keywords: Deep forest, Hugo Zemp, Ethnomusicology, Music Business.
Thanks Clive.
From: Clive Moore <c.m...@uq.edu.au>
Date: 19 March 2011 13:10
Subject: Solomon Islands Information Network: Pacific Intellectual Property Rights
To: Clive Moore <c.m...@uq.edu.au>
Dear Colleagues
There has been considerable discussion on the ASAP network on Pacific Intellectual Property Rights, and the case of Hugo Zemp’s recording of a Baegu, Malaita lullaby recording that was appropriated by Deep Forest has come up. I won’t reproduce the emails as there are too many, but I have abstracted the bits of information worth following in the Solomons.
Regards
Clive
Terry Brown [terrym...@YAHOO.COM]
The Island Business article also made passing reference to Hugo Zemp's recordings of Are Are (Malaita) music and the alleged appropriation of a tune by a European musical group. Does anyone know if this story has been properly discussed and/or documented? The recordings were published as LPs, later CDs (I have some) but I cannot imagine he made any money off them. But has anyone pursued the involvement of the rock band and the alleged stolen tune? Terry
Creely, Kathryn [kcr...@UCSD.EDU]
Hugo Zemp wrote an article which discusses this in the 1996 volume (vol. 28) of the Yearbook for Traditional Music. The title of the article is The/An Ethnomusicologist and the Music Business.
This journal is available online through JSTOR, for those of you who have access.
Another similar case involved music sampling done by the group Enigma. They sampled a song sung by some Ami people of Taiwan. The song, Return to Innocence, became a huge hit. A lawsuit was filed but settled out of court. Nancy Guy (an ethnomusicology professor here at UCSD) wrote a paper about this, which came out in an ASAO monograph:
Guy, Nancy
2002 Trafficking in Taiwan Aboriginal Voices. In Handle With Care: Ownership and Control of Ethnographic Materials, edited by Sjoerd Jaarsma. ASAO Monograph No.20. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Chapter11, pp.195-210.
Mark Busse (ARTS ANT) [m.b...@AUCKLAND.AC.NZ]
Don Niles also discusses this case in his article “Stealing Music In/From Papua New Guinea” in Protection of Intellectual, Biological and Cultural Property in Papua New Guinea, edited by Kathy Whimp and Mark Busse (Canberra: Asia Pacific Press and Conservation Melanesia, 2000). See pages 119-120.
Paul Heikkila [PDH...@AOL.COM]
Hugo Zemp relates this story and others relating to his ethnomusical research and record companies here:
http://mfs.uchicago.edu/upcoming/culture/readings/zemp.pdf
The group Deep Forest recorded "Lullaby" based on Zemp's recording.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Forest
See also this piece by Steven Feld:
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/public_culture/v012/12.1feld.html
Miranda Forsyth [miranda...@ANU.EDU.AU]
This is my first post on this discussion list and so I should firstly introduce myself. My name is Miranda Forsyth and I am currently a PostDoctoral fellow in the Regulatory network at ANU. I have worked in Vanuatu first as a prosecutor and then as a lecturer at USP in the law school in Vanuatu for seven years.
I am particularly interested in the present discussion because together with some colleagues I have just started a three year research project that will examine intellectual property laws in the region in the context of development and Free Trade Agreements. I would be happy to send a copy of our project description to anyone who is interested and would be most grateful for any feedback any of you have on it, and in particular any leads you may have to some good case-studies.
The background and aims of the project are as follows:
Background
Many Pacific island countries are currently considering whether to introduce intellectual property legislation, or whether to amend existing legislation. One of the drivers of this process are negotiations to join multilateral Free Trade Organisations such as the World Trade Organisation and to sign bilateral Trade Agreements such as the European Union’s Economic Partnership Agreement and the proposed PACER Plus agreement with Australia and New Zealand. Another driver is concern that the traditional knowledge of the country is currently not adequately protected from the risk of exploitation by third parties. Decisions about what sort of intellectual property regime exists in a particular country can have significant impacts on that country’s development and the lives of its people, particularly in the areas of agriculture, education, health and adapting to climate change. International experience has demonstrated that although intellectual property laws can bring benefits, they can also undermine development by threatening food security, restricting access to knowledge and medicines, and impeding technological transfer and development. State-based intellectual property regimes may also have an impact on customary laws and institutions that currently regulate access to traditional knowledge in the country. The purpose of this research project is to enable a better understanding of the potential advantages and disadvantages of different models of intellectual property protection in the particular context of the Pacific island countries, to better inform the decisions that will need to be made concerning these issues in the next few years.
Aims
* · Identify synergies between customary approaches to the protection of indigenous traditional knowledge and state-based intellectual property regimes, to create a culturally appropriate approach to intellectual property protection in the region.
* · Critically analyse the likely advantages and disadvantages of state-based intellectual property regimes on development in the Pacific Island Countries;
* · Identify an approach to intellectual property in the region that maximizes the benefits of intellectual property laws and avoids or minimizes their disadvantages;
* · Inform Australian, New Zealand and European Union policy in Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the region by charting an approach that ensures consistency between its trade-related intellectual property objectives and its broader development objectives for the region;
* · Inform and support the Pacific Island Countries in adopting a harmonized approach to the negotiation of intellectual property provisions in FTAs, as required by the negotiation processes
It is probably no surprise to you all that my initial research suggests that intellectual property and traditional knowledge issues in the Pacific Islands region have the potential to be deeply political and divisive, and that much care will be needed to ensure that many of the same problems surrounding land in the region do not occur. It also appears that there is much apriori theorising about what intellectual property rights can and cannot do and little empirical research into their actual effects to date in the region.
This is an area that warrants a very close collaboration between anthropologists and lawyers and I would be delighted if anyone was interested in becoming further involved in the project as it looks set to get broader in scope by the day!
I am happy to provide any further information concerning the project and also a copy of a paper I wrote about the protection of traditional knowledge in the region late last year for anyone who is interested.
Heather Young-Leslie [hyle...@HAWAII.EDU]
While thinking about intellectual copyright, you might find this particular TED talk by Johanna Blakley of interest.
She makes the point that in the creative industries (fashion, arts, literature, music...), intellectual protection stifles creativity and incomes. It would seem that the issue is not copyright & trademark protection, but ownership models and equitable distribution of profits / benefits / value from indigenous 'properties'.
Terry Brown [terrym...@YAHOO.COM]
Just a few comments:
(1) My impression is that Solomon Islands has no copyright law, though I may be wrong. Thus, even if one asserts copyright in the front of a book or on a music album, if there is no law, copyright cannot be enforced if someone infringes it. Perhaps in colonial days, British law covered the matter but with independence I am not at all sure any copyright legislation has emerged. (This has been an issue for liturgical texts published by the Anglican Church of Melanesia and their possible republication by other churches without permission.) Therefore, I would think one basic need would be to survey copyright legislation throughout the region and propose a template for legislation where there is none.
(2) Because of lack of copyright legislation (or if it exists, implementation of it), I would say the vast majority of CDs and DVDs sold are pirated, whether in China, Indonesia or locally. Their quality is often poor (even abysmal, such as a pirated version of "Avatar" filmed in a theatre somewhere in Asia). These pirated editions are relatively cheap and perhaps (optimistically) can be regarded as healthy rebellion against western and Asian capitalism. They are copied and recopied also.
(3) But more seriously, it means that local artists producing CDs or DVDs have no protection and as soon as something is released it is massively copied and distributed, whether through new CDs/DVDs or electronic files. Even a copy of a song provided to the local radio station for promotion risks being copied and distributed for free. Thus, although there are recording studios in Honiara and elsewhere in the country, many artists prefer releasing their albums in PNG where the market is much larger and there is a chance of some profit. I assume that CDs and DVDs can be produced that are not copyable but that does not seem to happen here. Therefore, artists cannot make money off CDs and DVDs and live gigs are their only hope.
(4) Even if there were proper copyright legislation (including legislation against unauthorized copying) I doubt if it could or would be enforced. There are already laws against such things as processed foods with packaging entirely in non-English (Chinese, Indonesian) or processed food being allowed on the shelves beyond their expiry dates that simply are not enforced. (I am thankful for the latter, it is the only way I can afford cheese, as cheese beyond its shelf-life is sold very cheaply. But with other processed food, the lack of enforcement is dangerous.)
(5) Perhaps all the above needs a re-think in light of current cultural and economic situations (for example, the absolute determination of people to have and exchange electronic copies of media without paying for them, now intensified by mobile phones). Perhaps the more egregious issues need to be dealt with (for example, basic copyright) with the possibility of legal recourse when copyright is blatantly infringed.
(6) Finally, on intellectual property rights of indigenous knowledge, it strikes me as a minefield. In many cases, the indigenous knowledge is very widespread to the point of being common knowledge (though perhaps not to Europeans). As you say, the analogy is with land issues, with the possibility of more and more people claiming to be the possessors of the indigenous knowledge coming forth for a share of the hoped for proceeds. And as with mining, the national government will be in there to take a major cut. I would go very cautiously. Terry
Professor Clive Moore, C.S.I.
Head
School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics
The University of Queensland
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Ton Heo
Sean Linton
I have no objections - this list has open access so you could also send them a web link.
http://groups.google.com/group/solomon-islands-indigenous-music-foundation/browse_thread/thread/f358035243040f22
Cheers
Sean