Intellectual Property Initiative And about time, too. You can read the 7 goals of the Maasai Intellectual Property Initiative here, but essentially the plan is to license the use of the Maasai name, image or reputation on a case-by-case basis so they the Maasai not only get to decide who is allowed to use their name, but also how it is used. At the moment, people look at the Maasai beads, for instance, and think, that’s pretty, without realising that each bead’s colour actually means something to the Maasai. It’s a matter of respect as much as it is about financial compensation. “I think people need to understand the culture of the others and respect it,” Maasai leader and elder Isaac ole Tialolo is Maasai told the BBC. “You should not use it to your own benefit, leaving the community – or the owner of the culture – without anything.” Absolutely. In fact, how categorically different, really, is what these companies are doing from what fashion counterfeiters do? The Maasai elders When we posted that piece last year, we thought it was too late to protect the brand, since items like the shuka had been in the public domain for so long, but while patenting is out of the question, the intellectual property route might not be. Nothing is certain yet, because international IP law is not really suited to this kind of case, according to Ben Goodger, an IP law expert quoted on the BBC’s website. And before pursuing intellectual property protection, the Maasai elders need to get the whole community on board, which is not the easiest of tasks when the estimated 3 million Maasai are spread over a huge area of land stretching from northern Tanzania to Kenya.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 10:01:19 +0000