August 13, 2021
Bad taste bedspread needs copyright correction
A Māori intellectual property specialist says the use of Māori imagery on bedspreads by an overseas company shows how the Copyright Act needs to be changed.
There has been outrage on social media about US-based-website Tmarc Tee offering a bed linen set featuring an image of the carvings at Te Puia, the New Zealand Institute of Māori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua.
Karaitiana Taiuru says it’s the sort of situation that was raised by the WAI 262 Fauna and Flora Claim – and points to unfinished business with recognition of taonga.
“The Copyright Act says if there is a statue or a building, something solid in public, you can take a photo and do what you want with it, but there is no consideration for our marae and other taonga that are in the public permanently fixed to the ground or to a building. That is the first thing I think the Government should (amend), the Copyright Act,” Dr Taiuru says.
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