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Author	Dr Anuttama Ghose
Organisation/Institution	School of Law, MIT World Peace University, Pune, India
Country	INDIA
Panel	Intellectual Property Rights
Title	Protecting Traditional Cultural Expressions in the Digital Economy: Regional Legal Strategies for Fair Access and Benefit Sharing in Asia
Abstract	The rapid expansion of the digital economy has transformed the ways in which Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) are accessed, reproduced, and commercialised, exposing Indigenous and local communities across Asia to unprecedented risks of cultural misappropriation. While TCEs embody collective memory, identity, and spirituality, digital platforms, AI training datasets, and global e-commerce markets have facilitated their widespread replication without consent or benefit sharing. Incidents such as the unauthorized reproduction of India’s Warli and Madhubani artworks on Amazon and Etsy, AI-generated recreations of Indonesian batik patterns, and the misuse of Bhutanese and Tibetan textile motifs by international fashion brands demonstrate the scale of the challenge and the inadequacy of existing legal systems. Although Asian jurisdictions have introduced partial protections—such as India’s Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, Indonesia’s Law No. 5/2017 on the Advancement of Culture, and the Philippines’ Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act, 1997—these frameworks remain limited in addressing digital diffusion, communal authorship, and cross-border infringements. International instruments including the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) draft provisions, the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003), and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing offer normative guidance but lack enforceable safeguards for digital exploitation. This paper argues that Asia urgently requires a coordinated regional approach grounded in cultural justice, sustainability, and technological adaptability. It proposes the establishment of a Pan-Asian Digital Repository for TCEs, a Regional Benefit-Sharing Protocol, platform accountability obligations for monitoring unauthorized digital use, and a culturally sensitive dispute-resolution mechanism accessible to communities. Through case-based assessment and comparative legal analysis, the study demonstrates that protecting TCEs in the digital economy is essential for empowering Indigenous communities, reducing exploitation, strengthening sustainable development pathways, and advancing regional integration.
Biography	Dr. Anuttama Ghose is currently serving as an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator for the PhD Program and the BBA LLB (Hons.) Program at the School of Law, Dr. Vishwanath Karad MIT World Peace University, Pune, India. Dr. Ghose holds an LL.M. in Innovation, Technology & IP Law from Symbiosis Law School, Pune, Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, and a Ph.D. in Law from the School of Law and Justice, Adamas University, Kolkata. She has successfully completed Harvard Law School’s CopyrightX course conducted in collaboration with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, and has also received certification from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Academy’s foundational course on intellectual property. She is currently pursuing her postdoctoral research under the Central Asian Legal Research (CALR) Fellowship awarded by Tashkent State University of Law, Uzbekistan. Her academic work spans a wide spectrum of multidisciplinary, socio-legal themes, including postcolonial approaches to intellectual property rights, traditional knowledge systems, copyright and artificial intelligence, digital surveillance, and gender justice. Dr. Ghose has an extensive publication record, with 31 SCOPUS-indexed articles in reputed journals such as the Journal of Intellectual Property Rights (JIPR), Journal of Asian and African Studies (SAGE Publications), Padjadjaran Journal of Law (Indonesia), Brazilian Journal of International Law, Novum Jus (Colombia), and the Manchester Journal of Transnational Islamic Law & Practice (UK). She has also contributed book chapters to leading international publishers including Springer Nature and IGI Global. In addition to her expertise in intellectual property rights, Dr. Ghose has actively engaged in research across multiple areas of international law and human rights.