LAUNCH OF THE CULTURAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS INITIATIVE

Fashion meets cultural heritage

26 APRIL 2016
Context:
Statistics show that women1 dominate the crafts industry, an industry that has for long not been
given the necessary attention by Western society.
In recent years however, traditional craftsmanship finally reached the spotlight but often in cases
of misappropriation by the fashion industry2. Despite the numerous negative cases, many
contemporary fashion start-ups and fashion businesses support collaborations with traditional
artisans, craftswomen and craftsmen alike. This “trend” has a strong positive impact on women
empowerment and cultural sustainability in developing countries.
As a legal endeavour, in 2016 Romanian lawyer Monica Boța Moisin developed the theory of
cultural intellectual property rights aimed at supporting the unprotected rights of traditional
“designers” and pioneered the field of Cultural Intellectual Property Law.
According to this theory, cultural intellectual property rights are a new generation of rights
designed to protect the intellectual work of artisans, craftsmen and craftswomen and to offer a
form of compensation for their contribution to the survival of cultural heritage by transmitting
traditional techniques and traditional cultural expressions from generation to generation.
In light of the 2018 theme of the World Intellectual Property Day, Powering change: Women in
innovation and creativity, we launch an initiative designed by women in innovation and creativity
for women (and men alike) who support the development and revival of the craftsmanship industry
worldwide.
The CULTURAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS INITIATIVE (Cultural IP Rights
Initiative) is designed to be a worldwide movement supporting the recognition of cultural IP rights
for craftsmen and women who are keepers and transmitters of traditional manufacturing
techniques, traditional cultural expressions and expressions of folklore.
This initiative was born from the need to eliminate culturally appropriative behaviour in the
fashion industry which is increasingly commercially exploiting traditional identity designs without
giving credit to the source community and without offering any form of economic compensation.

1
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244015587562
2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twHCsVPupXo – Cultural Fashion: Transform the Fashion Industry
from Villain to Hero. www.monicabotamoisin.ro
https://thewire.in/business/dior-people-tree-print-plagiarism-credit - Dior’s Dirty Laundry: How a Billion-
Dollar Company Failed to #givecredit, Yet Again
The Cultural IP Initiative supports cultural sustainability and fashion as a form of education and
promotion of cultural heritage.
For a Project to become a member of the Cultural IP Initiative, the following conditions must be
met:
1. The Project recognizes the existence of cultural intellectual property rights of artisans,
craftsmen and craftswomen, and traditional creative communities;
2. The Project participates in ensuring the survival of a craft or a traditional cultural
expression and its transmission to future generations;
3. The Project creates social impact.
All Projects recognized as members of the Cultural IP Initiative are required to:
1. Give credit to the community they are collaborating with or the craft of which they are
employing in their business and share the cultural information about the craft, technique or
traditional cultural expression;
2. Commit to support a traditional community, either financially or logistically, as a form of
“royalty” payment in respect of their cultural IP rights.
The initiative will be launched during an event organized in collaboration with ABURY, endorser
of the initiative and a project that fulfils the criteria of membership.
Monica Boța-Moisin is a cultural intellectual property lawyer
based in Berlin. She focuses extensively on creating a
framework for the survival of traditional cultural expressions
and building bridges between traditional craftsmanship and the
fashion industry.
Author of various legal articles in both Romanian and foreign
publications Monica has pioneered the terms ‘cultural
intellectual property law’ and ‘traditional identity design’
within Romanian and international academia and has defined
the “benefit sharing business model” for collaborations
between the fashion and product design industry and
traditional creative communities. See TEDx Talk “Cultural
Fashion: Transform the Fashion Industry From Villain to Hero:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twHCsVPupXo.
ABURY is pioneering the fashion industry by combining traditional, old world crafts with avant-
garde designs creating a new luxury style that fosters inter-cultural exchange while preserving
world crafts. It does this by bringing together designers with traditional artisans from remote and
inspiring cultures, creating a timeless and authentic luxury and giving back to the local
communities. http://abury.net/

More information soon on: www.monicabotamoisin.ro

Contact details:
Av. Monica Florina Boța Moisin
Cultural Intellectual Property & Fashion Law
tel: +40 745 830 038
e-mail: monica@monicabotamoisin.ro