Intellectual property ownership rights are normally controlled by legislation, and international conventions and agreements that relate to this area. Cultural property relates to the physical evidence of a particular cultures development, such as works of arts or archaeological and historical objects. In most Western cultures there is a distinction made between intellectual and cultural property rights. However indigenous peoples do not tend to make this same distinction because they view the two as being inextricably intertwined and one influences the other. Therefore it should be understood that when indigenous peoples are referring to their intellectual property rights that they are being inclusive of their cultural property rights as well.
Indigenous peoples have a number of concerns with current intellectual property laws.
Intellectual property rights require that individual or joint authorship be clearly established before protection will be granted. In indigenous societies it is not always possible to establish ownership of traditional knowledge or to determine who created cultural works. Traditional knowledge or cultural works are more likely to have been created over many generations and are deemed to be owned collectively by the tribal or family group. Limited protection allows the limitation of the scope and length of monopolies. Indigenous peoples do not subscribe to this view as they believe that they are the guardians of their property for future generations.