In April 2019, the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC) discovered that items in the Weekend Max Mara clothing line featured designs of the Oma ethnic group from northern Laos, but they were being sold without acknowledgement. TAEC has worked with the Oma since 2010 on handicraft development and research. The situation brought home the importance and challenge of protecting cultural intellectual property from misappropriation and plagiarism, particularly by international fashion companies. TAEC also discovered that the international law is ambiguous about rights to creative work that is traditional and shared by a community and culture in the developing world. The project Securing Cultural Intellectual Property Rights for the Oma of Laos is organising meetings with the Oma Community:

• To empower and advocate for their cultural intellectual property rights
• To advocate and educate on these rights to build support for the protection of traditional cultural expressions of ethnic groups in Laos
• To develop a digital database of Oma designs
• To create documentation to share the process with other advocates working on Cultural IP issues
• And to reopen discussions with Max Mara to recognise the rights of the Oma over their designs.

Securing Cultural Intellectual Property Rights for the Oma in Laos 

The appropriation and exploitation of traditional arts and crafts in defiance of Intellectual Property (IP) protection is a global problem. In April 2019, the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC) discovered that items in the Weekend Max Mara clothing line featured designs of the Oma ethnic group from northern Laos. These items were on sale without due acknowledgement. TAEC also discovered that the international law is ambiguous about rights to creative work that is traditional and shared by a community and culture in the developing world. Since 2010, TAEC has been working with the Oma on handicraft development and research. The intellectual theft situation brought home the importance as well as the challenge of protecting cultural IP from misappropriation and plagiarism, particularly by international fashion companies. 

In response, TEAC began to implement a project dubbed, “Securing Cultural Intellectual Property Rights for the Oma of Laos” aiming to: 

• Empower and advocate for Oma cultural IP rights. 
• Advocate with and educate on Oma rights to build support for the protection of traditional cultural expressions of ethnic groups in Laos. 
• Develop a digital database of Oma designs. 
• Create documentation to share the process with other advocates working on Cultural IP issues. 
• Re-open discussions with Max Mara to recognise the IP rights of the Oma over their designs.
  

The project activities have resulted in four videos being made and one White Paper Report which were all on the new Resource Page about Artisan IP Rights. As part of advocacy for recognition of the Oma intellectual property rights, a local influencer posted a video about the issue on her Facebook and shared photos and information to raise the profile of the issue. TAEC was invited to give a talk at the Cultural Studies Series on 3 February 2021, with over 90 attendees. On 24 March 2021, TAEC was interviewed by Lao Youth Radio about cultural IP rights. The project was also showcased in the Fashion Revolution Week 2021 agenda, with a YouTube video with over 1,600 views so far. 

The Voice grant enabled TAEC to become a well-known supporter of artisan communities and a social media advocate for cultural IP rights issues. People are now contacting TAEC when they see cultural IP misuse or plagiarism as a result of their #NotPublicDomain campaign, the materials they have created on their resource page, and the events they have held in Laos. 

 They learned a lot about the issues and were able to delve deeper into what might help communities exert control over the use of their cultural IP. This has now become a focal point for TAEC, and they intend to continue advocating for it in the coming years. They acknowledge that the project influenced the thinking of the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP), as well as other government and local actors. Previously, little thought was given to how cultural designs might be misappropriated and commercialised without permission by outside businesses. Through this project, it has become an issue of importance, and the DIP would like to incorporate safeguards into the revision of the IP Law as well as the work of the Lao Handicrafts Association.