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- Volume 4 Staff
- The Justice System in Canada: Does it Work for Aboriginal People?
- Maori Women Confront Discrimination: Using International Human Rights Law to Challenge Discriminatory Practices
- "Indigeneity" as Self-Determination
- Establishing Autonomous Regimes in the Republic of China: The Salience of International Law for Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples
- Sovereignty in Law: The Justiciability of Indigenous Sovereignty in Australia, the United States and Canada
- Ogawa v. Hokkaido (Governor), the Ainu Communal Property (Trust Assets) Litigation
- Paul G. McHugh, Aboriginal Societies and the Common Law: A History of Sovereignty, Status and Self-Determination
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Australian Icons: Authenticity Marks and Identity Politics
This article evaluates the adoption and implementation of an Indigenous certification trademark system in Australia. Section II considers the use of copyright law, moral rights provisions and consumer protection laws to protect Indigenous cultural property in Australia. It suggests that there needs to be additional protection under trademark law—especially to deal with problems concerning communal ownership, material form and duration of protection. Section III evaluates the efficacy of the scheme for marks of authenticity established by the National Indigenous Arts Advocacy Association in November 1999. It contends that there were practical problems with the implementation of the scheme and symbolic concerns about the definition of "authenticity" applied under the regime. Section IV engages in a comparative analysis of other jurisdictions—such as New Zealand, Canada and the United States. It demonstrates that an Indigenous certification mark can be successful, given sufficient support and assistance. The article concludes that there needs to be a sui generis system to protect traditional knowledge at an international level.
MATTHEW RIMMER, B.A. (Hons.), LL.B (Hons.) (Australian National University), Ph.D. (University of New South Wales), is a Lecturer at the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture ("ACIPA"), Faculty of Law, Australian National University. The author is grateful for the assistance of Wayne Shinya of Industry Canada and Carolyn Watts of the Australia Council, and the comments of the referees. He is indebted to Elsa Gilchrist and Krishna Rajendra for their research assistance.
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