Early last year, the government of Qiannan Bouyei and Miao prefecture of Guizhou province entrusted the Guizhou Society of Shui People with a patent for Shuishu, but found that Shuishu researcher Pan Chaolin from the Guizhou University for Nationalities had already acquired such a patent in 2004.

Pan's trademark for Shuishu consists of three words: le (to inscribe), shui (meaning water, or the Shui minority) and shu (meaning book or language). The patent is effective for 10 years - from 2006 to 2016 - and covers some 40 categories such as technological and scientific research, verification of art works, and seals for books and paintings. Anyone who wants to use the trademark of Shuishu in these areas must get Pan's approval.

Wu Yonghua, secretary-general of the Guizhou Society of Shui People, says that Shuishu is a public cultural resource that should be studied and developed by the whole society, and not monopolized by one individual.

But Pan says if he hadn't got the patent, someone else might have got it. He also says he will offer the trademark free to anyone who studies or publicizes Shuishu. If used for commercial purposes, he will only charge a small sum.

The dispute over the patent continues, as the government is yet to draw up laws regarding the copyright to aspects of cultural heritage such as Shuishu.

"Pan has a very good sense of copyrights. The researcher has a keen mind and he does many things before others think of them," says Prof Zhao Liming with the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University.

An important motivation for Pan getting the patent was an earlier incident involving another rare written language.

Nushu (a written language popular among women of the Miao minority ) was created centuries ago in Jiangyong county of Hunan province, to help repressed women in the feudal society express their sorrow in rhyme.

In 2003, a private Chinese company got the patent for Nushu covering some 100 categories, mostly items used by women. A foreign company too got the patent to use Nushu as a cosmetics trademark abroad.

Being a leading expert on Nushu, Zhao had suggested to the local government long ago that they should acquire a patent for Nushu to promote local products such as tea, fruits and some souvenirs. But the local government failed to do this.

"The lack of copyright awareness can work against those who want to protect their cultural heritage," says Zhao.

(China Daily September 16, 2008)