EFE.- The Mexican Ministry of Culture questioned this Sunday the US company Levi’s for using Mexican indigenous designs on their garments without having the authorization or having paid the community where they originate for copyright.
Secretary Alejandra Frausto sent a letter to the Levi’s México company and another to the Dracco Textil collective, which collaborated with the company, so that “it is publicly explained on what grounds a collective property is commercialized and privatized.”
“It is a principle of ethical consideration that, locally and globally, forces us to make a call for attention and put on the table of public discussion an urgent issue: protect the rights of indigenous peoples who have historically been invisible”, Frausto stated.
The Ministry of Culture denounced in a statement that the collection “Levi’s Premium, Original Trucker Jacket” contains embroidered elements in its pants and jackets that belong to the Mazatec culture of the San Felipe community, Jalapa de Díaz, from Oaxaca, southern state of Mexico.
According to the agency, the company did not use the “appropriate mechanism to obtain permission from said community.”
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Frausto cited in his letters the Federal Law of Copyright of the Mexican State, which states that the works “cannot be used without the written authorization of the title town or community.”
The legislation also requires “fair and equitable remuneration for the benefit of rights holders”.
“Principles that your brand is not complying with, while the designs have been cut to be applied to industrialized garments; they do not indicate the name of the communities and there is no compensation whatsoever towards the owners of said designs, ”said Secretary Frausto in her letter.
The questioning is a sample of the growing struggle of the Government of Mexico against, as it considers, the plagiarism that international brands make of indigenous designs.
Last May, the Ministry of Culture accused the Spanish company Zara and the American companies Anthropologie and Patowl of cultural appropriation for throwing clothes with elements from Oaxacan peoples.
In this context, the agency celebrates the Original festival from Thursday to Sunday, an annual space to claim original designs.
“The weaving hands of the millenary culture of Mexico make their way to show the world their way of understanding it through their designs and creations. Never again a ‘tribute’ without them, “said Frausto.
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