Indigenous Intellectual Property Petition for Traditional Design Protection

Indigenous communities worldwide face ongoing challenges with cultural appropriation and the unauthorized use of traditional designs, symbols, and knowledge. This Indigenous Intellectual Property Petition for Traditional Design Protection provides a powerful tool for advocates, tribal organizations, and community members to collect signatures and build support for stronger legal frameworks that recognize and protect Indigenous cultural heritage.

This petition template is designed for nonprofit organizations, Indigenous rights groups, tribal councils, cultural preservation societies, and advocacy coallers seeking to demonstrate widespread support for policy changes, legislative reforms, or institutional action regarding Indigenous IP rights. The form includes sections for documenting specific examples of cultural appropriation, proposing certification systems for authentic Indigenous products, and automatically notifying relevant government agencies including patent offices and tribal affairs departments.

Why this matters: Traditional Indigenous designs—from textile patterns and pottery motifs to ceremonial symbols and artistic styles—represent centuries of cultural knowledge and community identity. Yet current intellectual property laws often fail to protect these collective cultural assets, allowing corporations and individuals to profit from Indigenous creativity without permission, compensation, or proper attribution.

This template enables advocates to gather concrete evidence of appropriation cases, collect supporter information, and build a compelling case for reform. With Paperform's conditional logic, the form adapts based on the signer's relationship to Indigenous communities, whether they're directly affected community members, allies, or organizational representatives.

Integration with Stepper allows you to automate follow-up workflows—sending confirmation emails to signers, compiling submissions into formatted reports for government agencies, triggering notifications to patent offices and tribal affairs departments, and maintaining an organized database of supporters for ongoing campaign communications.

Whether you're advocating for legislative change, challenging specific cases of appropriation, or building support for a certification system that authenticates Indigenous-made products, this petition template provides a professional, accessible way to mobilize support and demonstrate the breadth of concern around Indigenous intellectual property rights.