Intellectual Property Rights Protection of Fine Traditional Chinese Culture in the Context of Building a Community for the Chinese Nation

Abstract

Within the context of building a community for the Chinese nation, fine traditional Chinese culture has emerged as a core competitiveness in advancing the Chinese path to modernization. However, the current absence of a benefit-sharing mechanism for this culture, and its systemic incompatibility with the Western-dominated intellectual property system, are detrimental to building a community for the Chinese nation. Exploration reveals that, based on the Marxist labor theory of value, fine traditional Chinese culture can be justified as property; and based on Locke’s labor theory of property, it should be accorded property rights. Thus, fine traditional Chinese culture can be included as the subject matter of property rights. Protecting fine traditional Chinese culture aligns with the original purpose of the intellectual property (IP) system, which should not be confined to safeguarding “knowledge innovation” but should also emphasize “knowledge transmission.” Expanding the IP system to protect fine traditional Chinese culture is conducive to China’s engagement in the global intellectual property landscape. A new form of intellectual property—traditional cultural property rights—should therefore be created. Traditional cultural property rights refer to the direct and exclusive rights held by rights holders, defined as the communities in specific regions, over specific traditional cultural expressions according to law. The protectable subject matter would encompass cultural traditions characterized by their intergenerational continuity, communal identity, and intrinsic value. The scope of these rights would include control over use, authorization of use, and the right to benefit from such use. The construction of a protection system for traditional cultural property rights should establish the principles of perpetual protection, collective protection, and regional protection.

Keywords

a community for the Chinese nation / fine traditional Chinese culture / traditional cultural property rights / intellectual property/intellectual property rights

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Higher Education Press