Māori Cultural Heritage and Copyright Law: A Balancing Exercise

Abstract:     
The digitisation of both traditional Māori cultural heritage and also more recent items of Māori provenance held in the collections of New Zealand museums, was the subject of a recent research project funded by the New Zealand Law Foundation. This article considers the practices of museums in regard to the digitisation of collection items of Māori provenance and analyses them in the context of the relevant legal and policy environment in New Zealand; in essence an environment that is comprised of, respectively, the Copyright Act 1994, the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the theory of cultural property law.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 6

Keywords: Māori cultural heritage, museums, digitisation, copyright

JEL Classification: K39

Accepted Paper Series