The conflict and convergence of mātauranga Māori-derived inventions with the IP system: a case study of hāngī patents

Abstract Indigenous peoples’ use of the patent system is often discussed in a binary fashion, in either a celebratory manner of ‘success cases’ or to discuss why Indigenous peoples cannot use the patent system. This article tackles this binary by examining how Māori (an Indigenous people of New Zealand) might use the patent system and how this might benefit their businesses in some cases, but this apparent convergence does not mean that there is no conflict of knowledge systems. The article uses hāngī (earth oven cooking) related patents in New Zealand as a case study to expose the apparent convergences but conflicts, in particular, with respect to how patents are prosecuted in a patent office and interpreted and assessed for validity by the courts.