Bilum designs stolen: Authority

The National Business

The Bilum Export Promotion Authority has accused some traders of stealing bilum designs for use on their factory-made products and then selling them across the country.
In a statement, authority chairwoman Florence Jaukae Kamel, reaised five issues:

  • the use of cameras to capture bilum designs which are then put on materials sewn into bags;
  • the use of kundu designs and the national flag;
  • the sale of factory-made bilum bags in shops at 80 per cent below the prices of traditionally hand-made ones;
  • that PNG Customs is allowing factory-made imports to come into the country; and
  • that the National Intellectual Property Office is not doing anything to protect traditional ideas, designs and symbols from being stolen.

Kamel is calling on the Government to look into the theft of cultural and traditional intellectual properties and protect local people and their livelihood.
“This thieving will cut off our womenfolks from the ways in which bilums have supported their families,” she said in the statement.
“It will also alienate ourselves as a nation from our spiritual and cultural connections with the bilum that gives us a fibre and a loop for imagining our identity.
“I call on all relevant government authorities to take heed of our plea and find ways to address this with some sense of urgency”.