The Laws About Cultural Appropriation [Pre-J.2]

The Dark Side of Modeling

With its estimated annual revenue of $1.5 billion in the US and the global fashion industry valued at over $2.5 trillion, the industry offers significant financial potential.

Race:  Cultural Appropriation-

The Law-

         cultural appropriation in most cases is not illegal. The difference lies in advertising; if something is appropriated, but they are not claiming Native heritage, it is not covered by the American Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990. It can be tricky to recognize when appropriation is occurring without legal rules to hold it against. 

          The basic idea behind cultural appropriation is that a group, nationality, or ethnicity developed a practice and only people in that group are allowed to practice it. Anyone who is outside of that group cannot engage in the practice. If a dominant culture adopts elements of this practice from this marginalized culture, especially if it is used outside of the original cultural context, it is considered cultural appropriation. This is often done without crediting the culture that inspired the work and sometimes it is done against the culture’s wishes.

          “Copying traditional design motifs without consent can erode a community’s identity and cause profound harm,” says Brigitte Vezina, an expert on international negotiations for the intellectual property (IP) protection of traditional cultural expressions and IP issues around cultural appropriation in the fashion industry. “From a copyright standpoint, traditional cultural expressions are considered to be in the public domain and that makes them freely available for anyone to use.” The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) currently excludes the majority of traditional cultural expressions from its protections; these include any motifs, patterns, or other designs that an Indigenous or traditional culture created. These designs do not fall under protection of copyright laws for the most part, because the designs are passed down through generations, so they do not have enough evidence according to WIPO’s bylaws to prove the designs are the original work of their culture.

           Overall, while there does seem to be some basis for legal standing within the intellectual property laws to protect these traditional designs in fashion, there is not currently enough protection available to cover everything a culture may wish to protect.

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