Spotlight Series April 2025: What is Aboriginal and Cultural IP?

If you work within any Indigenous spaces, you may have heard talk recently about Cultural IP and been wondering what it is and why is it so important. Aboriginal Cultural and Intellectual Property (ACIP) or Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) is “refers to the rights that Aboriginal people have in relation to all aspects of their cultural heritage (tangible and intangible)”, as stated by The Aboriginal Languages Trust. They give examples of things that ACIP covers that include:

·      Languages,

·      traditional Knowledge (scientific, agricultural, technical and ecological Knowledge, ritual Knowledge),

·      traditional cultural expression (stories, designs and symbols, literature and Language),

·      performances (ceremonies, dance and song),

·      cultural objects (including, but not limited to arts, crafts, ceramics, jewellery, weapons, tools, visual arts, photographs, textiles, contemporary art practices),

·      human remains and tissues,

·      the secret and sacred material and information (including sacred/historically significant sites and burial grounds), and

·      documentation of Aboriginal peoples’ heritage in all forms of media such as films, photographs, artistic works, books, reports and records taken by others, sound recordings and digital databases.

All Indigenous community has its own unique cultural heritage thus each community has rights to protect this heritage under ACIP/ICIP. This cultural heritage covers the traditional knowledge that has passed down from previous generations but also includes this knowledges usage now and into the future. This assertion of our ACIP/ICIP rights are also included in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that states in Article 31 “that Indigenous Peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expression.”.

The question we may then ask ourselves is why is this not covered by copyright protections? We all know that copyright protects our written and recorded work and includes things such as if we write a novel, or paint a painting, or write a song. And in some cases, there is overlap – if a Wiradyuri Elder writes a novel based on their cultural knowledge passed down to them from their Elders they own the copyright to the written novel. Where ACIP/ICIP steps in, is when it protects the passing down of cultural knowledge, and heritage, which is done orally. In the case of the Wiradyuri Elder’s novel ACIP/ICIP would protect their cultural knowledge so that someone else couldn’t steal their cultural story and then process to write a novel based on it themselves.

The Aboriginal Languages Trust provides an excellent table that illustrates the differences between Australian IP laws and Aboriginal Knowledge Systems.

Even as a Wiradyuri artist and creative myself I need to be mindful of ACIP/ICIP. A large amount of the work I do is in collaboration with the local Wiradyuri Elders and community. My work with them is sitting with them and hearing their stories and knowledge orally and then I create an animation, or film, based on this shared knowledge. Thus, in the case of my work I would legally be recognised under the Australian IP laws as the Copyright owner because I was the artist who wrote down, or recorded, the work. But what I have created still belongs to the Indigenous people who owns the Cultural IP. Of course, there are many instances where I own both the Copyright and the Cultural IP of a work if I am creating something that I have an ACIP/ICIP claim to as a member of the local Wiradyuri community. 

This may seem confusing and tricky but a basic approach that can minimise any concerns is to be respectful and understand that if an Indigenous person is sharing some cultural knowledge with you that they still own this knowledge the same as if you had read it from a textbook.

The Aboriginal Languages Trust have a lot of guides and templates that you can access and use that will make this process simpler for you and anyone you work with, and I would recommend all Indigenous and non-Indigenous people view these resources. By working together, we can assist the Indigenous communities of Australia share their stories without fear of having their cultural heritage stolen from them.

These resources can be accessed at https://www.alt.nsw.gov.au/resources/research-guides-other-information/

Written by Bernard Higgins