PROTECTION OF FOLKLORE: A WORK IN PROGRESS

Abstract

Over the past five decades since the subject of folklore and the question of its legal protection were first raised within the international community, this topic has acquired significant attention. Despite the efforts of various local, regional and international governmental and non-governmental groups, the question of finding the appropriate mode of protection of folklore remains an uncompleted task. Given that expressions of folklore can be dealt with under a number of available legal regimes, this paper will critically examine the appropriateness of dealing with the subject matter under the most important ones. For that purpose, the paper will firstly look at human rights laws and cultural heritage laws. Due to the discussed weakness of these legal regimes, this paper will then consider different intellectual property laws and sui generis proposed legislation and examine their adequateness in providing protection for expressions of folklore. Finally, the crucial questions that remain open in the folklore related debate will be recapped and potential further directions worth pursuing suggested.