Conventional intellectual property (IP) rights regimes, such as copyright, patents and design protection, offer time-limited protection to the authors of original creations or new inventions. They cannot therefore easily be used to protect cultural expressions whose authors are unknown, and which have been passed down through the generations, changing and adapting to new contexts (see Gibson 2005). There has thus been considerable debate about the usefulness of IP rights regimes in protecting traditional cultural practice. Since 2000 this discussion has taken place within the context of developing a specific, or sui generis, international legal framework specifically designed to protect what is known as the ‘traditional knowledge’ (TK) of ‘Indigenous peoples and local communities’ (for a review of current debates, see Rimmer 2015). This work has been located within the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC).