In most countries, Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions created and used by artisans are considered to be in the public domain. This means anyone can use or profit from them, without seeking consent from the source communities, or paying any form of compensation. 

A database is one tool for artisans to protect their Traditional Cultural Expressions. By documenting their designs, communities can create the evidence needed to prove origin in the event of misappropriation. Here, artisan communities and their advocates can learn more about the Cultural Intellectual Property Rights® approach and how to create a database, based on the model of the Oma Traditional Textile Design Database©. 

The template used is available to be licensed, royalty-free, to other communities and advocates who would like to protect cultural intellectual property. The hope is that it can support both communities and companies by providing tools needed to work together more equitably.

Watch this short video to learn more about the features of the Oma Traditional Textile Design Database©, the first of its kind.

An Introduction to the Oma Traditional Textile Design Database

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Artisans express their cultural heritage in the forms of Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs). The idea of protecting TK and TCEs has been defined by UNESCO and is also a term referring to legal protection of intellectual property. The two meanings are distinct. Learn more about this and what you need to know about Cultural Intellectual Property in our resources.

One might assume that traditional designs can be protected in the same way that other forms of creative work are, through copyright, trademarks, and geographical indications. However, these conventional intellectual property tools do not fully protect the TCEs of communities. In addition to the lack of international legal protection against misuse and misappropriation of TK and TCEs specifically, at an international level, there is currently no treaty or similar international law tool regulating their protection or disputes arising from their use/in relation to them. 

Digitally documenting collections of information, specifically in the form of databases, can be an effective tool for Indigenous people, ethnic groups, and local communities to protect and promote their TKs and TCEs, and be in control of how their knowledge is accessed, used, and commercialised.

In many countries worldwide, databases benefit from either copyright protection or sui-generis database rights, and the content of the database — texts, photographs, audio-visual materials — can be subject to copyright protection. By complementing the database creation process with a framework that includes obtaining the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the TK and TCEs custodians, as well as terms and conditions of access and use and benefit-sharing provisions, documentation through databases has the potential to serve multiple purposes. 

Read our White Paper Report “Documenting Traditional Cultural Expressions: Building a Model for Legal Protection Against Misappropriation and Misuse with the Oma Ethnic Group of Laos” (PDF) by Monica Boța-Moisin and Tara Gujadhur, 2021,  for a more in-depth explanation of this approach.

The TDD is designed as a tool through which the Indigenous people, local communities, tribes and ethnic groups can communicate that they are custodians of their Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions and the only ones who can control the access to and use of their intangible heritage. The TDD represents a first step towards officially securing sui-generis legal protection for Indigenous people, local communities, tribes and ethnic groups in Laos, and worldwide.

The TDD is designed on the Framework of the 3Cs’ Rule: Consent. Credit. Compensation© – an extra-legal tool developed by The Cultural Intellectual Property Rights Initiative® to guide best practices for drawing inspiration from cultural heritage and engaging in culturally sustainable collaborations with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, tribes and ethnic groups.

This Framework aims to ensure that TK and TCE Custodians have control of their heritage, are part of discussions and negotiations, are credited for their textile designs, and can benefit from the use of their designs and their knowledge.

A fundamental aspect of the approach is ensuring a community’s interests are expressed and represented, that they understand the benefits and risks associated with documenting their cultural expressions, and that they receive support to manage the database and control access to their knowledge. The key components include:

  1. Free, prior and informed consent
  2. Documentation of traditional cultural expressions
  3. Database creation, and
  4. Database publication

Free, Prior and Informed Consent is a principle recognised by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) that recognises the right of  Indigenous Populations to be consulted by States prior to legislative or administrative actions. 

Inspired by this principle, TAEC and CIPRI advocate that acquiring  Free, Prior and Informed Consent should be compulsory when working with communities who hold Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions.  

The principle includes the following ideas: 

  • Free – Consent is free, given voluntarily and without coercion, intimidation or manipulation
  • Prior – Consent is sought in advance of any authorization or commencement of activities.
  • Informed – Engagement and information is provided prior to seeking consent and also as part of the ongoing consent process. 
  • Consent – A collective decision is made by the right holders and reached through customary decision-making processes of the community.  
  • Read More: 
  • Learn about The Nagoya Protocol, an international agreement that inspired the creation of the  3Cs’ Rule: Consent. Credit. Compensation©

Creating a database requires cross-disciplinary expertise, dedicated expertise on legal protection mechanisms, ethnographic research tools, and technical guidance for populating the database. Preliminary consultations amongst all relevant actors from the community interested in developing their own TDD are compulsory as part of the Free, Prior, Informed Consent (FPIC) process. A community may need to set up a legally recognised representative body, if not already existing. Depending on the community, the process may take many months, or even years. For the Oma community of Nanam Village, a community of just 76 households, the process took approximately one year. 

It is recommended that a community embarking on this process creates a project team that includes community leaders as well as: 

  • Legal advisors
  • Community facilitators
  • Anthropological/artistic/cultural researchers
  • Database developer

TAEC and CIPRI are available to support other communities who would like to create a traditional design database. Please contact ipadvocates@taeclaos.org for more information.

The template can be licensed, based on a royalty-free and non-exclusive agreement, to any Indigenous or local community, tribe or ethnic group interested in protecting and promoting their TK and TCEs (“the Beneficiary”), or any advocacy group legally representing a Beneficiary. 

If interested in licensing the template, please fill in the form here. 

Local Contexts developed the Traditional Knowledge (TK) & Biocultural (BC) Labels as tools for Indigenous communities to add context to cultural heritage content, such as artifacts held by museums. 

A digital tool, TK Labels are used by cultural institutions (galleries, libraries, archives and museums – GLAMS) as well as digital heritage archives held by Indigenous groups.  Oma Traditional Textile Design Database© incorporates the use of TK Labels to provide additional information about the library items. It is optional for other communities to do this in their own databases. 

Local Contexts supports Indigenous communities to manage their intellectual and cultural property, cultural heritage, environmental data and genetic resources within digital environments. Local Contexts recognizes the inherent sovereignty that Indigenous communities have over knowledge and data that comes from lands, territories, and waters.

The database model of the Oma Traditional Textile Design Database© aims to provide legal protection from misappropriation and misleading claims to authenticity by third parties. Because of its original selection and arrangement of the content, this database is protected by Copyright under the Berne Convention. In addition, the Oma Traditional Textiles Design Database© serves as:

  • a tool for asserting cultural intellectual property rights for the Oma people of Nanam Village in Laos;
  • a defensive tool to protect against the unconsented use of Oma TCEs; 
  • a means to document TCEs for the benefit of the Oma Community at large and ensure cultural continuity; and
  • a source of information for research and product development to facilitate commercial collaborations between Oma artisans and fashion and textile stakeholders.

The Oma Traditional Textile Design Database© was completed on 13 May 2021, and submitted for copyright certification by the Department of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, on 17 May 2021.

The database template used is available to be licensed, royalty-free, to other communities and advocates who would like to protect cultural intellectual property. The hope is that it can support both communities and companies by providing tools needed to work together more equitably. If interested in licensing this template, please fill in the form here.

The Oma Traditional Textile Design Database© is accessible online at www.oma.traditional designs.la. However, only two of the six sections of the database can be viewed by the general public — access must be granted to view the full database contents. 

TAEC acts as a legal representative of the Oma ethnic group of Nanam Village in Laos regarding access to their database. TAEC can grant access to the database content to individual users or teams (groups of people affiliated with an institution or organisation) based on an expression of interest of the applicant in collaborating with the Oma of Nanam Village, for either commercial or educational purposes. TAEC will communicate this to the Oma, and after acquiring their consent for the desired collaboration, access will be granted on a case-by-case basis.

To indicate your interest in collaborating with the Oma and gaining access to their database, please fill in the form here.

Database Information


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