Subject:
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Re: Lego copyrights native language
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.loc.au, lugnet.loc.nz
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Date:
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Tue, 10 Apr 2001 10:39:39 GMT
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Viewed:
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1022 times
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In lugnet.technic.bionicle, Arnold Staniczek writes:
>
> 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.
Just when I'd thought they had been using their imagination...
pete.w (let's propose a toast to corporate colonialism)
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