{"id":125376,"date":"2026-09-21T12:37:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T07:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=125376"},"modified":"2026-09-21T12:37:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T07:07:26","slug":"indian-crafts-and-luxury-brands-the-legal-gap-around-traditional-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indian-crafts-and-luxury-brands-the-legal-gap-around-traditional-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian Crafts and Luxury Brands: The Legal Gap Around Traditional Art"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Indian Craft Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian crafts and weaves are skills and visual languages carried across generations, rooted in specific regions and communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet when they enter the global luxury fashion system, the people and places behind them become invisible.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the controversy over Prada&#8217;s Kolhapuri chappals, two more instances have drawn criticism.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently,<\/span><b> Ralph Lauren<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> presented a pink evening gown featuring <\/span><b><i>aari work<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 hook embroidery from Gujarat. It was described only as hand-applied embellishment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Fendi&#8217;s <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">autumn collection includes a mirror-work Baguette bag, made in Italy over 138 hours, using 39,500 beads and 475 mirrors, priced at $10,000. It closely resembles the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mirrored purses sold at Indian craft fairs<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pattern raises a sharp question. Why is it so easy to commercially appropriate a traditional Indian craft, and so hard for the community behind it to claim recognition, ownership or a share of the value?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Core Legal Contradiction<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts identify the root problem. <\/span><b>Intellectual property is territorial, while culture is not<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Laws stop at borders; crafts do not.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A centuries-old technique does not fit conventional IP categories. There may be a specific artistic expression, a design, a geographical identity or a protected name.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the underlying tradition belongs to a community and has evolved over generations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hence, traditional crafts have <\/span><b>cultural provenance<\/b> <b>but no clearly identifiable legal owner<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That gap is what gets exploited.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>What GI Can and Cannot Do<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Geographical Indication (GI) <\/span><b>protects <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the name, origin and reputation of a qualifying product.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It does not necessarily protect every motif, stitch or visual element associated with a craft. This is the crucial limitation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysts argue that the guiding principle should be representation and custodianship.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those who have sustained and transmitted a tradition should have a meaningful role in decisions about its commercial use.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Key points on the GI framework:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under India&#8217;s <\/span><b>GI Act<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, both registered proprietors and authorised users can seek relief for infringement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remedies include <\/span><b>injunctions, damages and account of profits<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But recognising a right and giving a community the capacity to exercise it are two different things.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cross-border litigation is<\/span><b> resource-intensive<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, placing it beyond most artisan groups.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Institutional capacity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> therefore matters. Producer organisations, cooperatives and representative bodies can document provenance, organise authorised users, negotiate collectively and pursue enforcement.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, the government should assist with registration, recognition and enforcement. Ownership must remain with the community.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Problem of Authorship<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Traditional craft unsettles the very idea of an author. The first creator of a technique may be unknown, unidentifiable, or simply irrelevant to how the tradition actually grew.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each generation passes knowledge on and alters it slightly. The community keeps practising it.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the absence of an identifiable author cannot become an invitation to appropriate. The law must recognise the <\/span><b>community as custodian<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> wherever a continuing relationship exists between a cultural expression and the people who preserved it.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Provenance could be established through historical records, regional practice, oral testimony and community knowledge.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Documentation: Necessary but Delicate<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Traditional knowledge cannot simply be recorded and handed to an outside institution.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some knowledge is sacred or restricted. Documentation must not become a route to external control.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts propose a carefully maintained digital registry covering motifs, techniques, names, regions and custodial communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Such a registry <\/span><b>would not grant ownership<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> over every visual similarity. But it would make it far harder for a company to claim that a centuries-old Indian tradition originated in a European design studio.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The &#8216;Inspiration&#8217; Escape Route<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per the experts, the place of origin must be credited, not absorbed into a brand&#8217;s own creative vocabulary.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">European brands rely on the language of &#8220;inspiration.&#8221; Their design and copyright frameworks are also stronger than those of developing countries.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A further loophole exists in technique itself. If work is fully machine-made, it is not aari but computerised crewel work \u2014 and that relabelling becomes an escape route.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Risk of Over-Protection<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a real danger in protecting crafts too aggressively. The law meant to preserve them could freeze them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Techniques have always moved between communities. Artisans have adapted motifs, colours, materials and methods.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The aim, therefore, should be to prevent extraction, false authorship and unacknowledged exploitation \u2014 not to stop culture from moving. Protection should not turn a living craft into a museum piece.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Towards a Sui Generis Framework<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is why a <\/span><b><i>sui generis<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 specially designed \u2014 legal framework for traditional cultural expressions is being debated.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It could answer questions conventional copyright and design law cannot:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who represents the community?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When is consent required?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When is attribution mandatory?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When must a commercial user share economic benefits?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How is legitimate inspiration distinguished from misappropriation?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>International developments<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/world-intellectual-property-organization\/\" target=\"_blank\">World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)<\/a><\/strong> is negotiating rules on misappropriation, attribution, community rights and benefit-sharing.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its 2024 treaty on genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge shows international IP law is beginning to move beyond conventional copyright and patents.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Berne Convention<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> also offers some avenues to challenge unauthorised use.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The debate is not about halting cultural exchange. It is about ending extraction without acknowledgement.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India needs collective legal identity for artisan communities, documented provenance, and enforceable attribution with benefit-sharing. Inheritance must not enrich everyone except those who kept it alive.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/ralph-lauren-fendi-indian-crafts-appropriation-10881938\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/life-style\/fashion\/ralph-lauren-and-fendi-face-criticism-over-cultural-appropriation-and-due-credit\/articleshow\/134312254.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ToI<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indian crafts face legal gaps when luxury brands borrow traditional designs, raising questions about attribution, community ownership, geographical indications and benefit-sharing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":125447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[10385,60,22,59],"class_list":["post-125376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-indian-craft","tag-mains-articles","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125376"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125396,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125376\/revisions\/125396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}