Who Owns a Story that belongs to Everyone? The Patachitra Dilemma

The centuries-old Bengali storytelling custom known as patachitra, which blends music and art, is at a juncture where contemporary copyright law and cultural heritage collide. These colourful scroll stories, which have been passed down through Patua artist generations, capture lived experience, folklore, and collective memory. However, such Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) are legally vulnerable due to Indian copyright law, which is based on individual authorship. Businesses profit from Patachitra motifs while denying credit or income to the original communities. The protection against widespread cultural misappropriation is still insufficient, even after gaining Geographical Indication status in 2018. This article makes the case for a collective copyright framework in India by drawing comparisons to the Milpurrurru case in Australia and the Māori cultural protections in New Zealand. In order to protect oral traditions, broaden the scope of GI, and implement benefit-sharing arrangements, it suggests legislative reform. The voices of Patachitra run the risk of becoming ornamental anonymity if collective authorship is not legally acknowledged. Who owns a story shared by all remains the unanswered dilemma in India’s cultural IP landscape.