2 Ruth Gana Okediji - Commercial Values and the Global Protection of Culture Okediji states IPR are proprietary and therefore shrink the public domain. Preserving the public domain is an aspect that also needs to be considered in developing countries so that people there can build upon what was created by prior generations. She notes that indigenous knowledge is different than traditional knowledge. Indigenous knowledge relates to people, culture, and land.
Traditional knowledge is a step removed.
Okediji points out that there is significant innovation going on in the developing world. She notes the example of pounding yams in her native region of West Africa. A traditional food staple in West Africa, a local inventor built a machine to pound yams that allowed women to work at other jobs. But the patent was bought by a Japanese firm for a pittance, then made great sums of money building and selling the machines abroad. Okediji believes patent protections and copyright protections need to be strengthened and expanded for cultural items so resources can return to the original creators.