The Liberty Daily 
(WND)—A law professor at the University of Miami has proposed using America’s copyright laws to attack and punish those who may use undefined “impermissible cultural appropriation” in their works.
It is J. Janewa Osei-Tutu who outlined her scheme in an article at Racism called Protecting Cultural Personality.
She insists intellectual property rights exclude intergenerational cultural heritage, and while trademarks are protected, “cultural heritage” is not.
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“This allows corporations and those outside the community to capture and monetize this unprotected resource, which means that it is exposed and subject to misappropriation.
“But why must a cultural group commercialize its identity to protect that identity and why should only corporations enjoy perpetual identity protection through trademark law,” she wrote.
Constitutional expert and law professor Jonathan Turley, whose advice at times has guided actions in Congress, cited the extremism included in the agenda.
“The proposal in this article would blow apart the copyright laws and use them to weaponize claims of cultural appropriation. It would codify the culture of viewpoint intolerance and speech regulation that currently characterizes higher education,” he warned.
“Professor Osei-Tutu brushes aside the pesky problems in introducing such a subjective or self-defining standard into federal law. She writes that the actual details can come later.”
She wrote, in fact, “Drawing on a dignity-based version of the U.S. right of publicity, trademark law, and human rights law, this article has articulated the normative foundations to establish a legal framework for a cultural personality right. This article focuses on the challenging first step of justifying a new cultural identity right rather than detailing the precise scope and limitations of such a right.”
There it is, her demands call for the creation of a new “right,” a “cultural personality right.”
Turley explained she simply “brushes aside the dangers to free speech, which she recognizes but insists ‘[q]uestions regarding freedom of expression, which go beyond the scope of the current article.’”
She noted one cannot use names of “personalities,” such as Elton John, “without permission.”
Because they are allowed to prevent the unauthorized commercial use of their names.
That, she claims, also should apply to “collectively held cultural identities.”
She claimed “Timbuk and Louis Vuitton, have designed and marketed clothing based on traditional ethnic clothing styles or symbols, or named their fashion lines after established cultural groups. This is often done without the knowledge, consent, or involvement of the cultural group.”
Further, she claimed in the article that the “maker of the Jeep Cherokee vehicle entered discussions with the Cherokee Nation and finally agreed in 2023 to stop using the name ‘Cherokee’ on its iconic vehicle,” even though those vehicles still are made, marketed and sold.
She insists on creating a right to “address the economic and dignitary interests of cultural groups.”
Turley explained, “Professor Osei-Tutu believes that copyright laws could create a system of enforcement of ‘cultural personality rights.’ With the imprimatur of federal law, cultural appropriation would become more of a recognized and enforceable principle.”
What her plan would do, he said, is “unleash endless lawsuits against creators and companies.”
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