Bhil Art is a cultural and traditional expression of Bhil community. It is one of the largest tribal groups, mainly from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. The art is an expression of their culture through depicting Scenes from their daily life, myths, rituals and beliefs by using vibrant colours and dots.

This art form is a living indigenous knowledge and traditional cultural expression (TCEs). However, the existing intellectual property framework is ill-equipped, primarily the Copyright Act in safeguarding such community-based rights and inter- generational creative tradition. The individual claim for protection of the paintings by the artists based upon the motifs, cultural symbol and stories shared by the whole community fall outside of the purview of legal ownership. This led to misappropriation, commercialization and violation of the rights of the Bhil community without acknowledging or providing equitable share of profit to them. For instance, when fashion brands or commercial painters copy tribal designs without consent, the community loses recognition and livelihood. Moreover, in India there is no sui generis legislation for the protection of rights of Traditional Knowledge (TK) and TCEs.

From “beyond copyright,” the paper argues that the copyright law is not in itself enough to protect indigenous art forms like Bhil art. Instead, it requires for a broader, inclusive framework that respects customs and encourages documentation of traditional practices of the community. This paper analyses the conceptual and structural limitations of the Copyright Act in order to deal with collective authorship. It also focuses on how the legal recognition of community custodianship and also incorporation of the principles such as Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for bridging the gaps between traditional knowledge system and the existing IP protection.