A resolution adopted by the state House last month is urging the formation of a working group that will discuss policies with respect to Native Hawaiian intellectual property.

House Concurrent Resolution 108 was adopted in light of the increasing disputes over topics such as cultural misappropriation, ownership and control between Indigenous people and third-party users of Indigenous knowledge resource.

“There is a kuleana for us to address the global cultural appropriation that has occurred in various forms of language, art, hula, and traditions,” Rep. Darius Kila (D, Nanakuli-Maili), who introduced the resolution, said in a written statement. “For years, we’ve observed mainland companies opening businesses and using a Hawaiian name to increase sales, despite having no connection to our culture. This is why we are beginning the discussion on how to safeguard and preserve Native Hawaiian culture, and prevent its tokenization.”

Kila told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he decided to introduce the resolution after a conversation with cultural practitioner Zachary Lum. Lum had expressed to Kila that when it came to issues such as cultural appropriation, he felt that problems were being addressed reactively rather than proactively, Kila said.

The resolution recommends a nine-person working group consisting of experts in Native Hawaiian law or Indigenous intellectual property or Native Hawaiian customs art, or who are Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners. The governor, the speaker of the House and the Senate president would each choose three members from a group of individuals nominated by select Native Hawaiian organizations. The group would meet once a month to discuss potential policies.

Several testifiers in support of HCR 108 wrote that they hope to see such a working group address Native Hawaiian intellectual property issues that have arisen in practices such as hula and mele.

“Culturally, we deal with mele in a different way than how the Western music industry would have us,” said Lum, who is also the executive director of Kahuli Leo Le‘a and a 21-time Na Hoku Hanohano award winner. “In the Hawaiian music industry in particular, there are royalties to be had, but there’s also a lot of homework to be done.”

For example, the nature of Hawaiian mele often includes repetition of words or phrases, however, the origins of these mele aren’t always known, Lum said. Under Western laws, their use might be considered copyright infringement. But in Native Hawaiian culture, whether or not royalties are due can depend on many variables such as how the song is distributed or whether one is the publisher, the songwriter or neither, he said.

Lack of codification around these matters leads artists to refrain from interacting with certain mele altogether, depriving the larger community of the educational and cultural value that comes with the cultural practice, Lum said.

In the cultural practice of hula, halau are led by kumu hula who have undergone specific cultural protocols to earn their title. As hula becomes more widely practiced, Kila said that some out-of-state practitioners have given themselves the title of kumu hula without going through this protocol, while reaping the benefits of the title.

Similar situations happen with the Hawaiian language, Kila added. One in particular, which was noted in the recently adopted resolutions, occurred in 2018. It involved a Chicago-based food chain called Aloha Poke Co., that issued cease-and-desist letters to poke shops throughout the country, claiming ownership of the words “Aloha” and “Poke.” The claim sparked outrage in many who felt the company should not be able to claim ownership of the culturally significant words.

“When folks link onto language, culture or mele, all they see is the word,” Kila said. “It’s not Hawaiian to put a price tag onto something. … But in the 21st century, as folks have taken advantage of our kindness, I hope to give our communities more safeguards and legal protections because I don’t want to see the dilution of our culture.”

Kila said he is currently working to organize a meeting between the Senate president, the House speaker, the governor and Lum in hopes that the formation of the group will be authorized within the next couple of months. While drafting effective bills on this topic in the future will take time and collaboration, he expects the group could start submitting legislative bills by 2025.

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Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.