Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 4, 1 April 2007 — Righteous gathering [ARTICLE]

Righteous gathering

This year's Ka 'Aha Pono Hawaiian intellectual property conference will focus on bioprospecting and the results of a Native Hawaiian trademark study

By Sterling Kini Wung | Publicatinns Editnr With the genetic engineering of kalo and Kim Taylor Reece's hula photograph lawsuit recently receiving significant media coverage, organizers of the Ka 'Aha Pono conference are urging Native Hawaiians to dis-

cuss the importance of protecting their collective intellectual property rights and traditional knowledge. "Commercializing and profiting from our chants and mele and other traditional practices without first consulting with us is absolutely wrong," said Native Hawaiian attorney Mililani

Trask. "A lot of Hawaiians don't realize how these issues relate to them and our natural resources, and we need to educate our people about this." Education is the foremost goal of the third Ka 'Aha Pono Native Hawaiian Intellectual Property Rights Conference, whieh will be held April 20-

21 at the Honolulu Mission Memorial Hall. One of the topics that will be discussed is the controversy surrounding bioprospecting, a process in whieh scientists eonduct genetic tests on biological resources in order to develop commercial products. Native Hawaiians, who traditionally have a deep spiritual connection to their surrounding ecosystems, have expressed concerns over private eompanies conducting such research on Hawai'i's natural resources, with little or no compensation to the state. In 2005, the state Legislature

established a commission to assist in the creation of a policy that balances the cultural, environmental and eeonomie eoncerns involved in bioprospecting. Members of the commission, who eome from the sciSee GATHERING on page IG

GAĪHERING

Cūntinued fram page lū entific, business and Hawaiian communities, will participate in a panel discussion on the impact of bioprospecting on the state's economy, the environment and the Hawaiian people. The conference will also feature the first major public presentation on the recommendations from a year-long study into the development of a Native Hawaiian trademark. The trademark study arose from concerns among Hawaiian artists that the value of their traditional works, such as feather lei, wood sculptures and intricate quilts, were being diminished by cheaper knockoffs being mass produced in other

countries. Hawaiian artists hope that a trademark would provide them the same protections as similar insignias do for Native American and Māori artists. Another panel discussion will focus on the copyright-infringe-ment lawsuit Kim Taylor Reece filed against a Native Hawaiian artist who created a stained-glass artwork that he claims is identieal to one of his photographs of a dancer striking a hula pose. Some Native Hawaiians were outraged that someone could copyright the likeness of a hula pose. How native communities from around the world are dealing with intellectual property rights issues will also be touched on through presentations and a documentary film session.

The registration fee for both days of the conference is $85; the fee for just one day is $50. Registrations must be postmarked by April 15, and the conference is limited to 150 participants. Scholarships for conference registration fees and inter-island travel are also available. Conference organizers are also seeking academic papers on topics related to intellectual property rights and traditional knowledge to be included in the documents developed from the conference. The articles should be no more than 3,500 words with endnotes and citations. For more information or to register, visit kaahapono.com, or eall Mālia Nobrega at 7346709 or Kaho'onei Panoke at 753-9773. ^