ABSTRACT
In Europe, open GLAM movements and cultural restitution reforms are overlooking a crucial aspect that should not be underestimated: what should happen to the archival materials, digital collections and intellectual property that are indelibly linked to cultural property. Left unresolved, new inequities will emerge around who can own, access, use, control and commercialise the heritage for decades. The effect is to conflate layers of discrete rights in the underlying item and knowledge it contains, securing to possessors a double monopoly over the digital and physical heritage. To redress this in both practice and legal reforms, this article argues that the focus on restitution must expand from one on cultural property to one on intellectual property to include a wider range of heritage assets. Given that these materials largely fall within private law, this means the possessor’s ability to return such heritage is not dependent on public law reform; restitution can begin now.
Andrea Wallace and Mathilde Pavis, Intellectual Property Restitution, Modern Law Review. First published: 27 September 2026.
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