"Various initiatives, like the Navdanya seed bank, the Gutenberg Project, open source software, etc., are attempts to resist the expanding regime of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property rights deal with copyright and related rights; geographical indications; industrial designs; integrated circuit layout-designs; patents; trademarks; and undisclosed or confidential information. Since the signature of the Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights (TRIPS) agreement, a part of the WTO GATT agreement, in 1994, about 147 countries around the world agreed to implement the same intellectual property rights as default. Examples of recent inclusions of intellectual property rights are the patenting of genemanipulated living organisms, indigenous knowledges and sofware, the registration of three-dimensional forms, melodies, smells, and colors as trademarks and the copyrighting of databases, choreography, and architecture. In the context of this book, we would like to highlight one particular example: the copyrighting of exhibitions and collections.
During the last century, Marcel Duchamp claimed that the act of exhibiting or collecting an object, was enough to turn that object into an artwork by exhibited a readymade urinal as a work of art. Marcel Broodthaers installed his collection of eagles and about eagles, that were marked "this is not an art object", itself as a work of art. Such artworks posed problems for the copyright regulations and had legal consequences.
For about a decade now, the makers of exhibitions and museum collections have succeeded in obtaining legal protection for their work authorized under copyright law. In current jurisprudence, judges have decided that exhibitions and museum collections may reflect the personality of their makers. From a legal point of view, exhibitions and museum collections are considered intangible realizations of the mind. So just like any other creative oeuvre, they fall under the same regime of
intellectual property rights.
(No rights reserved. This text may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, used, modified, or otherwise exploited.)"
- Agentschap (Agency), an agency for temporary interdisiplinary and international collaborations
