SIEM REAP – July 28 2011. IIPI held the third workshop in a series on the use of intellectual property rights to protect and promote traditional arts and crafts and to empower women.
The workshop, co-hosted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), was held at the Sokha Angkor Resort in Siem Reap, Cambodia. More than 150 traditional artists and legal and government professionals from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Brunei Darussalam participated in the program. Bruce Lehman, President and Chairman of IIPI, Susan Anthony, Attorney Advisor at USPTO, and H.E. Dith Tina, Under Secretary of State for the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia, provided the event’s opening remarks.
The four-day workshop, held July 25-28, explored a variety of topics. The first day introduced speakers to the intellectual property issues relevant to traditional arts and crafts. The second day built upon the foundation provided by the first day and included discussions of arts and arts and crafts cooperatives, collective and certification marks, alternative approaches to protecting traditional cultural expressions, enforcing intellectual property rights, and the role of dance. The third day provided participants with information on building their businesses and cultural entrepreneurship and social responsibility. Representatives from Artisans D’Angkor and the Tilleke & Gibbins Textile Collection spoke on commercializing traditional arts and crafts. The fourth and final day focused on marketing cultural businesses. The day included an interactive session in which participants collectively contributed towards solving a specific scenario, modeled after the situation faced by one of the participants. The workshop concluded with a field trip to Artisans D’Angkor.
An electronic copy of the workshop’s agenda can be found here.
Image © Andrew Jaynes 2011