Objective: The objective of this agreement is to safeguard and protect the cultural property of the Schitsu'umsh (Coeur d’Alene). Cultural property is defined as knowledge and information concerning ideas, practices, objects, landscape, or any other expressed view associated with the culture of the Schitsu'umsh people. As cultural property information is obtained for this project, we seek to protect it from uses other than those designated by the Schitsu'umsh, and specifically approved by the Tribal Council and its designated agencies.

Considerations: 1. "Patents, copyrights, and trademark are mechanisms designed to protect an inventor, creator, or designer’s individual creations or novel company investments. Inventions, defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization as new ideas that solve a particular problem in a technical field, are covered by patents, which protect the owner of the patent from having his product copied by competitors. Copyrights protect literary, scientific, and artistic works, as well as computer software. Copyrights do not protect ideas as such; rather they protect the specific way in which the author has chosen to express the idea. Trademark, another form of intellectual property protection, distinguish the products of one firm from those of other firms in a related field. According to Greaves ("Tribal Rights," in Valving Local Knowledge, Island Press, 1996), such legal measures fall far short of protecting the intellectual property rights and biological resources of indigenous peoples. Indigenous or local knowledge is unique to a given culture or society, and it contrasts with knowledge generated, say, within universities or other research institutions; it is a communal inheritance, often specific to a particular locality or way of life. The use of traditional knowledge is governed by community regulation. It has no identifiable author and is already in the public domain, and therefore cannot be protected under current copyright and patent laws." (Ian McIntosh, "Intellectual Property Responsibilities," Cultural Survival, Winter 2001: 4).

Thus patents, copyrights and trademarks evolved out of Euro-American legal consideration to protect individual property defined in terms of a commodity. Such legal safeguards were and are not fundamentally designed to protect the collective cultural and intellectual property rights of indigenous peoples such as the Schitsu'umsh (Coeur d'Alene people).

2. Recognizing the sovereign status of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, the tribe has the right to monitor and regulate how Schitsu'umsh cultural property is used and shared publicly. This right is exercised through its Tribal Council and any other body it so designates.

3. The agreement is entered into by the principal investigator (and any research assistants under his supervision) in the Schitsu'umsh - Lifelong Learning Online Project (L3) and by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe (as approved by Council Resolutions on April 12, 2001 and December 5, 2002), and is applicable and binding between these two parties.

Action: 1. Utilize a thorough review process to access, adjust, and approve the cultural property and information obtained for this project by the principal investigator, accessing its accuracy, authenticity, and appropriateness for public sharing and dissemination. The review process would involve each interviewee involved in the project, the Department of Education, Office of Cultural Resources, the Internet Project Committee (formed for this project), and, finally, the Tribal Council. No cultural property would be publicly disseminated as part of this project without prior approval of the above said individuals, committees, and agencies.

2. Copies of all cultural property and informational materials obtained for this project (e.g., still photos, video and audio tapes, and print materials of interviews and imaging) by the principal investigator, whether used in the final Internet modules or as supplemental, non-used research materials to the modules, would remain with the tribe and housed in the Office of Cultural Resources and/or Department of Education. Such materials are considered the cultural property of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, to be used as deemed appropriate by the tribe and its agencies.

3. No additional or future uses (e.g., print or web publication) of any and all cultural property and informational materials obtained for this project by the principal investigator would be permitted without the prior approval of the Tribal Council.

4. The Schitsu'umsh have the continued right to monitor and adjust the content of the Schitsu’umsh - Lewis and Clark Rediscovery Lifelong Learning Online module. If any adjustments are requested, they would be coordinated and facilitated through the principal investigator or through an internet technician working on the Lewis and Clark Rediscovery Lifelong Learning Online Project. The monitoring shall begin upon the final Tribal Council approval of the project and shall continue as long as the module continues to be linked from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s web page http://www.cdatribe.org/.

5. All web-based materials approved by the Tribal Council for use on the Lewis and Clark Rediscovery Life-Long Learning Online site will carry the copyright © sign, identifying the module web-based pages as copyrighted to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

Signature of Principle Investigator: Rodney Frey - Professor of American Indian Studies, University of Idaho
Date: 6 August 2002

Witnessed by a Coeur d’Alene Tribe Department of Education Representative: Dianne M. Allen - Director, Department of Education, Coeur d'Alene Tribe
Date: August 6, 2002

Witnessed by a Coeur d’Alene Tribe Legal Counsel Representative: Alice Koskela - Director, Legislative Affairs, Coeur d'Alene Tribe
Date: August 6, 2002

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