Working With Traditional Knowledge and Cultural Materials: A Practitioner's Guide to Consultation, Consent, Labels, and Contracts
By Casey Scott McKay ·
This guide sets out how a company, an institution, or a researcher should approach the use of traditional knowledge or cultural material, in the order the work has to be done. It begins with identifying what is actually being used and from whom, because most engagements start with a client that cannot answer either question, and then works through source identification, choosing the right community representative, running a consultation that produces consent rather than cover, and drafting an agreement whose process terms matter more than its commercial ones. It covers the specific compliance regimes that do apply — the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, section 2(a), NAGPRA, and national access and benefit sharing legislation implementing the Nagoya Protocol — together with the certification mark route for communities that want to control authenticity. It closes with the provenance file for genetic resources, the disclosure requirement arriving under the 2024 WIPO treaty, and what to do when the engagement has already gone wrong.
IP and Technology > Copyright | Guide | Published 11 February 2025 - Updated 14 July 2025 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. This guide sets out how a company, an institution, or a researcher should approach the use of traditional knowledge or cultural material, in the order the work has to be done: identifying what is being used and from whom, choosing the right community representative, running a consultation that produces consent rather than cover, and drafting an agreement whose process terms matter more than its commercial ones. It covers the compliance regimes that do apply, the certification mark route for communities that want to control authenticity, the provenance file for genetic resources, and what to do when the engagement has already gone wrong.
Keywords: traditional knowledge · cultural materials · community consultation · free prior and informed consent · benefit sharing agreement · Indian Arts and Crafts Act · certification mark · TK Labels · genetic resource provenance · Nagoya compliance · access and benefit sharing · attribution terms · cultural protocols · supplier design provenance · NAGPRA consultation
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