A Legal Framework for Ownership Rights in Negative Cultural Heritage
摘要
This Chapter discusses the surprising prevalence of blackface imagery in the United States and the continued harm it proliferates. There is little to be done under the traditional American intellectual property system, the primary goal of which is often to encourage the creation of new works. Further, when American law seeks to put a stop to something, it tends to take a punitive approach. Often, uses of blackface imagery are due to lack of knowledge on the part of the user, and much can be learned from systems that prioritize education rather than punishment. Here, I propose a legal regime modeled after the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Culture Heritage that would provide public education on the history and harms of blackface imagery.