Litigation + complaints Selling Other People's Heritage — Corporate Cultural Appropriation

Global brands have repeatedly taken Indigenous designs to sell product without consent, credit, or compensation — and communities are increasingly fighting back through law. The Navajo Nation sued Urban Outfitters over "Navajo"-branded products, citing trademark infringement and the Indian Arts and Crafts Act; a federal judge let the case proceed. Alaska's Sealaska Heritage Institute sued Neiman Marcus over a copied Ravenstail knitting pattern — thought to be the first US case suing a business for copying a traditional Indigenous design. Mexico's Culture Ministry has formally accused Zara, Anthropologie, Patowl, Carolina Herrera, Isabel Marant, Zimmermann and Mango of lifting Oaxacan and Mixtec patterns. The legal gap: intellectual-property law protects named individual creators, not "traditional knowledge" held collectively by a community — which is exactly why this remains contested. A counter-example of doing it right: Disney signed a formal agreement with Sámi leaders before using their culture in Frozen 2.