Bollywood Stole Our Folk Song

According to author Anna Turley, although the issue of intellectual property rights (IPR) is an important one in India, it has received little media coverage there. The coverage that IPR has generated has tended to be sensationalist, such as the patenting of everyday commodities like turmeric by multinational corporations.

In an effort to bring these issues out into the open, cultural rights activists, bio-diversity campaigners, academics, lawyers, communicators, and students gathered in Bangalore, India in April 2004. Organised by VOICES, Madhyam, and the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) with support from the WACC, this workshop explored IPR issues raised by piracy, the patenting of Basmati rice, traditional folk songs, and open source software. A key purpose of the discussion was to map out links between IPR and the media. As Turley puts it, "The workshop was organised on the basis that our understanding of IP issues and consequently the definition of the concept of IP value itself is, to a great extent, shaped by media interpretation and therefore media perspectives are a convergence point for the different historical debates around IPR." Participants also explored links between IPR and both cultural rights and bio-diversity.

To continue the "dynamic process of collaboration for social change" around IPR that was initiated at the April workshop, "participants agree[d] to form a network for future collaboration on IPR issues in India. The papers from the workshop will be published in a special issue of Humanscape magazine, an Indian development publication, to raise awareness of IPR amongst the development community in India. A website on IPR and the media will be set up by VOICES to facilitate the network. VOICES will also collaborate with the Convergence Media Training Institute, a post-graduate media institute based in Bangalore to develop a course module on IPR and the media."

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