Social Science Research Council

In 2002, in anticipation of the 2005 deadline for compliance with the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement, Indonesia undertook a major revision of its copyright law. The new law brought Indonesia into compliance with higher and more extensive international norms of copyright protection, including the extension of copyright protection to software and broadcasts.

The law also reaffirmed copyright protection for works it characterized as “commonly authored” or of “unknown authorship”—both references to the forms of creativity and ownership associated with traditional arts and folklore. These copyrights are accorded to the state, and assigned an unlimited term. The intent was to create a permanent zone of protection for traditional Indonesian cultural practices, in part by empowering a legal actor (the state) to defend them from unauthorized exploitation. The actual application of the law—and the practical capacity of the state to adjudicate these new property relations in a context of turbulent multiculturalism—remains unclear.

By ‘propertizing’ the traditional arts as a means of defending them, Indonesia is participating in a much larger debate about the protection and exploitation of cultural heritage and—more broadly—the relationship of culture to processes of globalization and international trade. The debate reflects a tension, felt especially within minority and indigenous cultures, between the notion of culture as a commercializable asset and culture as the core of non-commercial community identity.

This SSRC project consisted of a 2-week, July 2005 trip by a group of international and Indonesian researchers, lawyers, and activists versed in IP, arts, and cultural policy. The group met with Indonesian artists, policy activists, policy makers, and other relevant actors to discuss the complexities and challenges associated with the protection of traditional arts. The trip was intended to (1) prompt greater public discussion of these issues within Indonesia, especially among the communities of artists whose work is most affected by the new law; (2) help support and build connections among the small number of research and policy actors who bring critical perspectives to bear on the intersection of intellectual property, cultural policy, traditional arts, and trade.

The trip concluded with a public seminar in Jakarta on 'The Impact of Intellectual Property Laws on Indonesian Traditional Arts,' and with the release of a declaration on the topic by the group (available on the right).

This project was made possible by a grant from the Ford Foundation.