Preserving one's narrative: Implications of intellectual property protection of folklore and the steel pan in Trinidad and Tobago

This paper problematizes the issue of applying Anglo-American intellectual property law with its focus on individual authorship and proprietary interests, to communally derived forms of artistic expression, within the context of folklore and the steel pan in Trinidad and Tobago.; The concept of "folklore", viewed through the main theoretical perspectives in the discourse, is considered, as well as the socio-political history of Trinidad and Carnival out of which the folkloric characters, the "Pierrot Grenade" and the "Midnight Robber", and the steel pan, originated.; The (in)ability of private copyright law to protect folklore is demonstrated as well as a similar inadequacy of related common law and equitable doctrines: publicity rights, unfair competition and breach of confidence. Those doctrines are shown to be individualistic in application and less certain than specific legislation affording protection for folklore.; The issue of affording patent protection to the steel pan is also examined. However, patent law fails to recognize the social/collective origins of inventions such as the steel pan. Alternatively, the steel pan as a folkloric instrument or as a form of cultural property is explored. Those approaches are deemed inadequate because of their inability to acknowledge the steel pan as belonging to the family of contemporary musical instruments. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...