Resolution 108 Native Hawaiian Intellectual Property Working Group Members

In May 2023, the Hawaii Legislature passed House Concurrent Resolution No. 108, HD 1, SD 1. This resolution established a Native Hawaiian Intellectual Property (NH IP) Working Group. The group’s task is to create a report on the policies and legislation needed to better protect Native Hawaiian culture and traditional knowledge. The report is due in November 2024, in advance of the 2025 legislative session.

The NH IP Working Group held its first meeting on Monday, June 24th, at the Legislature. During this meeting, they elected Kumu Hula Vicky Holt Takamine, Executive Director of the PA’I Foundation, as Chair and Makalika Naholowaʻa, Executive Director at the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, as Vice Chair. Other Working Group members include:

  • Zachary Alakaʻi Lum, Executive Director of Kāhuli Leo Leʻa;
  • U’ilani Lum, Assistant Professor at the Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law at the University of Hawaiʻi Richardson School of Law;
  • Keʻōpū Reelitz, Director of Advocacy at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs;
  • Kumu Hula Cody Pueo Pata, Hālau Hula ʻo Ka Malama Mahilani;
  • Kumu Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker, University of Hawaii; and
  • Elena Farden, Executive Director of the Native Hawaiian Education Council.

Additionally, the group approved Senator Jarrett Keohokalole, Representative Darius K. Kila, and Representative David A. Tarnas as non-voting members. There is one vacancy on the working group to be filled. 

The creation of the NH IP Working Group follows decades of advocacy by the Native Hawaiian community to protect intangible aspects of Native Hawaiian culture and cultural property. Past important policy statements, including the Paoakalani Declaration (2003) and the Huamakahikina Declaration (2021), have detailed cultural abuses and called for necessary changes by government and private entities.

Related media coverage of the Working Group’s launch:

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