Tribes To WIPO — Long-Term Protection For Traditional Knowledge Needed

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Terry Williams is a member of the Tulalip Tribes, an indigenous tribe recognised by the federal government of the United States and based in Washington state.

In an interview with Intellectual Property Watch alongside a World Intellectual Property Organization meeting, he talks about what the Tulalip Tribes are hoping for from the United States and the international institutions, and about what the US government wants from the Tulalip Tribes’ knowledge of the land, as they may seek it for purposes like combatting climate change.

In the clip below, Williams talks about what kind of protection is sought from WIPO and from the intellectual property system in general. This does not involve, he says, taking anything away from the current system but adding to it, in order to achieve “long-term protection of tribal art, music, dance, and things like that.”

In the next clip below, he speaks about traditional knowledge and climate change. The Tulalip people have lived on the land since the glaciers melted, said Williams. “We were there when the forests began, and we’re there now, and we watched them rise and fall, and we know what the issues are and we how to fix them,” he said. Over the last 20 years, the US government has been realising the value of this knowledge, and is now “asking us to join their leadership on how to make a recovery.”