TAEC in collaboration with the Cultural Intellectual Property Rights Initiative® (CIPRI) created the #notpublicdomain campaign to advocate for ethnic artisan communities in Laos. The campaign, launching 19 April 2021, aims to draw attention to the unauthorised use of traditional designs by fashion companies and educate the public about the limited legal options available to the communities who are the custodians of traditional designs. 

Public Domain is the state of belonging to the public as a whole. In some parts of the world, the lack of a copyright implies the work is in the public domain. Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) belong to the communities that create them and usually do not have associated copyrights or other legal protections.

Traditional Cultural Expressions are #notpublicdomain.

For additional information, photographs, or interviews, please contact the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre. 

Ms. Tara Gujadhur
Co-Founder and Co-Director
tara@taeclaos.org
(English or Lao Language)