What is Data Sovereignty in Triangulation with Māori Innovation and Western Intellectual Property Regimes? Of Registries, Reality and Rangatiratanga

Project Summary 

Current negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) propose developing databases of Indigenous knowledge and genetic resources. Patent offices would use these databases to determine if patent applications are truly novel and inventive.

However, government-controlled databases are problematic because they make assumptions about mātauranga, such as who holds it, and how it can be stored. This issue takes on increasing urgency with widespread application of AI to data, and genetic resources being stored as data. 

This research analyses WIPO’s proposal through a case study on mātauranga Māori innovations in papakāinga and assessing findings about novel mātauranga vis-à-vis existing and proposed domestic and international laws regarding data in registries. 

There are two sub-projects:

1. The first looks at papakāinga as locations where significant innovation is developed and identifies the nature of this mātauranga and its protection. 
2. The second examines the potential for a Māori-developed and controlled registry of mātauranga for the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand to use. 

Research Questions

What are examples of Māori innovations on pāpakainga? Does the IP regime matter for these? Or does Māori data sovereignty look different, e.g. a Māori-developed and -controlled register? 

Lead Researcher 

Dr Jesse Pirini, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Whakatōhea, Victoria University of Wellington

Research Team

Professor Jessica Lai, Victoria University of Wellington

Dr David Jefferson, University of Canterbury 

Harriet Kennelly, Taranaki, Ngā Māhanga, Pūniho Pa, University of Canterbury