You cannot conflate US ip w native american tk because american ip is based on capitalist ideals while indigenous tk is cultural and religious

The tribal value of Native American expression is much more cultural, and much more religious. Consider the plight of the Chilkat Indians who struggled to recover the "Whale House" artifacts.' The Whale House artifacts were actually wooden posts depicting various cultural scenes." The Chilkat Indians valued the artifacts not because of their economic value but because of their cultural and ceremonial value." Another example of tribal value of intellectual wealth is evidenced by the tribal claimants under the Native American Graves Protection and Repartition Act" who are seeking from museums, universities, and others, the return to the tribe of cultural and sacred objects (as well as funerary objects and human remains) because of the object's cultural value to the tribal community, despite economic loss to the museums and others. Although these Native American "expressions" themselves do not hold any intellectual wealth, the "expressors," retain the intellectual capital required to produce these economic, and of course cultural, expressions. Native American intellectual property assets also include those concepts created by innovation, that is, regarded not for its aesthetic or artistic value but for its utility. Native American innovation is most often evidenced in the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries. A classic example often cited by commentators is the innovation of the Hopi and Zuni tribes in developing and maintaining traditional crops, plants and seeds as part of its agrarian past.'3 Contemporary American society has drawn upon these innovations, creating an economic market for the Hopi and Zuni tribes in seed bank distribution and plant variety maintenance.'4 One common illustration of the Hopi and Zuni tribes' crop innovation is blue corn. Blue corn has become a popular ingredient used in regional foods, as well as in traditional restaurants.'" The intellectual wealth associated with these products is attributed to the tribe: their experience, persistence, and knowledge. Innovation and expression are protected by United States law in different ways - such as by patents, trademarks, and copyrights - primarily because of the difference in valuation discussed above, as well as the dissimilarities in the incentives that United States law presumes are required to further the constitutional mandates in furthering innovation and expression. As a result, the concept of maximizing innovation within the Native American community is beyond the scope of this comment; however, many of the discussions regarding the difference in societal values affecting expression are applicable to innovation as well. The bulk of this article discusses the U.S. framework for protecting Native American expression, and the ability of that protection to further Native American interests in economic development and cultural maintenance.