Panama: Empowering Indigenous Women through a Better Protection and Marketing of Handicrafts

"I cannot recall the last time that people sang and danced in the middle of a WIPO seminar," remarked an observer. But then, this was no gray-suited gathering.

Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources, Folklore and Gender was the subject that attracted some 100 participants, mainly women from local indigenous and rural communities, to a two-day seminar held in October in Río Hato, Panama. They came to analyze their problems and successes as producers of traditional handicrafts; to learn which intellectual property (IP) tools could help them protect and market their products; and to benefit from the experiences of other indigenous communities in exploiting IP. With cheap imitations undermining sales of traditional handicrafts, the seminar, organized by WIPO in cooperation with the Industrial Property Registry of Panama and with financing from the Inter-American Development Bank, proved to be a timely event.

Experts highlighted a variety of IP tools, among them collective and certification marks and geographical indications. These seem particularly well adapted to the protection and marketing of handicrafts and, at the same time, to the concepts of the collectivity and collective rights that are at the heart of many indigenous societies. Speakers noted that certification marks are being used, with varying degrees of success, to market indigenous art in countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Other subjects covered included the application of copyright and design protection to traditional cultural expressions; patents; and international developments, such as discussions taking place in the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC).

Panama's sui generis law

Panama is one of a few countries in the world to have enacted a sui generis law to protect traditional cultural expressions and related knowledge¹. Indeed, the IGC text on traditional cultural expressions drew upon Panama's law. Introduced in June 2000, Law 20 is designed to protect traditional dress (see box on molas), music, dance and major indigenous handicrafts such as tagua nut carvings, hand-beaded chaquira necklaces and chacara woven bags. The seminar provided an opportunity to improve understanding of this law within the communities concerned.

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