Subject:
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Lego copyrights native language
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.technic.bionicle
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Date:
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Tue, 10 Apr 2001 09:20:38 GMT
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Viewed:
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746 times
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----- Original Message -----
From: Trevor Alvey <talvey@gte.net>
Newsgroups: lugnet.general,lugnet.loc.nz
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001 10:19 PM
Subject: Lego copyrights native language
From http://www.stuff.co.nz
Lego could corner Maori names
10 April 2001
By JONATHAN MILNE
International toy company Lego could now prevent Maori from marketing toys
with Maori names, intellectual property law specialist John Hackett said
yesterday.
"If a New Zealand company wants to use the name 'tohunga' for a toy, they
would be stopped by Lego because they have rights in that name," he said.
Mr Hackett is calling for a law change to protect indigenous intellectual
property rights, as part of an indigenous rights act.
"Proper consultation would have to be had before anyone could apply to
register a brand name or a trademark," he said. "It would also have to apply
to areas of copyright like the haka.
"There's no copyright in the haka any more because it's not new and
original, so those things would need to be protected."
Prime Minister Helen Clark said this week that she was concerned at the lack
of legal protection for Maori intellectual property, after it was revealed
that Lego had copyrighted Maori words.
The Government is closely watching a Waitangi Tribunal claim over Maori
intellectual property, the so-called flora and fauna claim.
Mr Hackett said the law would need to give indigenous groups the right to be
consulted on the use of their cultural and language heritage.
"The most important thing is that the words or names of any indigenous
groups should not be used in a culturally insensitive way."
Tribunal claimant lawyer Maui Solomon is complaining to Lego and the World
Intellectual Property Office over the actions of Danish company Lego in
co-opting Maori words for its new range of Bionicle hi-tech toys.
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