Beyond Ownership: Decolonizing Intellectual Property Law to Protect Indigenous Cultural Heritage in Myanmar
Myanmar’s legal framework on intellectual property remains deeply rooted in colonial legacies that prioritize individual ownership, economic value, and commodification. This framework fails to reflect the lived experiences and values of Indigenous communities, particularly the Karen people, whose cultural knowledge and expressions are fundamentally collective, spiritual, and community embedded. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork—including interviews with Karen leaders and cultural scholars—this paper explores how Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP) is disregarded by Myanmar’s Intellectual Property (IP) system and how the law can be reimagined to support inclusive and equitable cultural heritage protection. It critically evaluates the limitations of Myanmar’s 2019 IP laws and highlights alternative legal models—such as Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), sui generis systems, and legal pluralism—within a decolonial and Indigenous standpoint framework. By centering Indigenous voices, this study offers a pathway for reconfiguring legal institutions in Myanmar and across Asia toward pluralism and justice.