Petroglyphs Registered As Trademarks By Tribe

Thu., Feb. 17, 2000

From Staff

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.

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