Protection of Indigenous Cultural Expression under Ethiopia Legal Regime: Analysis of the Current Existing Law

Abstract

Traditional cultural expression (TCE) is an artistic heritage that is developed and maintained by the community or by individuals reflecting the traditional artistic expectation of the community. Traditional Cultural expression is one of the indigenous/traditional knowledge systems, the protection of which as creativity has been debated for the last four decades and still remains an unsettled and challenging issue to date. With the advent of new technologies, this matter has come to the surface raising not only as a legal matter but also, as a political concern in the context of international organizations. This study tried to analyze the necessity of granting protection for indigenous knowledge/indigenous TCE. The researcher tried to analyze data from various literature, WIPO, ARIPO, and OAPI. Moreover, the researcher tried to analyze international and domestic legal regimes whether they protect TCE or not. Protection of TCE has not reached an agreement at the international level and it is also highly neglected in Ethiopia. There is no clear law that protects TCE in Ethiopia. Even at the policy level, there is no clear policy document that aspires for the protection of the indigenous knowledge system. For sustainable economic development, Ethiopia shall enact indigenous customary law or sui generis legal regime for the protection of indigenous artistic and cultural knowledge