This research considers, by a conceptual and philosophical–legal perspective, the tensions between the interest of harmonization of intellectual property and the protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Starting from the fact that the harmonization of IP has been promoted as a strategy of global legal integration, normative predictability, and legal certainty for transnational economic agents, this study underpins the challenges that cross this intention. ICH is also observed as a legal category grounded on collective, dynamic, and culturally situated logics. The article briefly remarks a critical reading regarding possible conceptual incompatibilities between these regimes, showing through pensée complexe that such tensions stem from deeper divergences, associated with the predominance of a unidimensional and reductive view of the relationship between IP and ICH.
Arrabal et al. (Wed,) studied this question.