WIPO Guide on Managing Intellectual Property For Museums

Museums, and the broader cultural heritage community, now have access to a new guide to help them use the intellectual property (IP) system to improve the management of their collections in the digital environment.  The "WIPO Guide on Managing Intellectual Property for Museums" recognizes the important role that IP plays in providing access to collections, and in preserving and managing the valuable works they contain.  A printed version of the Guide will be available shortly.

Executive Summary

In the digital age, the cultural heritage community is increasingly faced with the responsibility of managing its own IP internally, as well as managing uses by third parties and users throughout the world, often on diminishing budgets.   Effective use of the IP system allows museums to meet international standards of best practice, and can offer significant opportunities to leverage their goodwill, authenticity, uniqueness and scholarly expertise to generate a return on investment.

The first part of the Guide describes IP issues of relevance to museums such as rights in scholarly content, technologies developed in-house, and branding tools that provide recognition and awareness of the museum in a commercial context.  It also sets out recommended best practices in managing IP to enable a museum to identify its IP, understand its rights in using its collections, and strengthen its ability to deal with critical IP issues as they arise.  The second part of the Guide reviews existing business models that could provide museums with appropriate opportunities to create sustainable funding, and deliver on their stated objectives.

The WIPO-commissioned author of the guide – Mrs Rina Elster Pantalony – is a recognized Canadian expert in the field of museums and cultural heritage institutions. Her biography is available for reference.

For any questions about the WIPO Guide, or WIPO’s activities in relation to museums, please contact the WIPO Copyright and Related Rights Sector, at copyright.mail@wipo.int, or tel: +41 22 338 8138.