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Indian band applies for trademark on ancient petroglyphs

http://flash.oregonlive.com/cgi-bin/or_nview.pl?/home1/wire/AP/Stream-Parsed/OREGON_NEWS/o1573_AM_CAN--TrademarkPetrogl

The Associated Press
02/16/00 5:50 PM Eastern

NANAIMO, British Columbia (AP) -- Ten petroglyphs have been registered as
trademarks by a Vancouver Island Indian band, making them off-limits for use
on sweatshirts and jewelry and other commercial items.

Reproductions of the ancient figures pounded into rock faces, have become
hot selling items with tourists, but leaders of the Snuneymuxw First Nation
believe the images are sacred.

"They are not supposed to be copied for any purposes," said Murray Browne of
the Snuneymuxw treaty office. "Any copies of them are sacrilegious."

The petroglyphs have been registered with the Canadian Intellectual
Properties Office, and artisans and merchants in Nanaimo and on Gabriola
Island have been asked to stop using them under penalty of court action.

The images are now "considered official marks of the Snuneymuxw First
Nation, in the same way the Canadian flag is considered an official symbol
of Canada," said Lisa Power, assistant director of the Canadian government's
trademarks branch.

Not all native groups agree with the Snuneymuxw.

At the Kwagiulth Museum on nearby Quadra Island, the Cape Mudge Indian band
sells T-shirts and cards with petroglyph images.
 

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