Can the leaning mailboxes in Taipei be regarded as cultural or creative artifacts? News about Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), the movie The Assassin (聶隱娘) and the leaning mailboxes, bent during Typhoon Soudelor, have all sparked controversy over their cultural and creative elements, or lack thereof. Although the government has invested a lot of money in the development of the cultural and creative industries, the definition and public perception of the concept remains misty.
According to the Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries Act (文化創意產業發展法), the cultural and creative industries are “industries that originate from creativity or accumulation of culture which, through the formation and application of intellectual properties, possess potential capacities to create wealth and job opportunities, enhance the citizens capacity for arts and elevate the citizens living environment.”
However, the mailboxes are tilted because they were bent by a falling shop sign, not human creativity or cultural heritage. Hence, according to the definition provided by law, the leaning mailboxes are not cultural or creative artifacts.
Chunghwa Post Co’s response to the leaning mailbox fanfare happened in two stages. The function of a mailbox is to allow people to send mail and if a mailbox is damaged by a typhoon, it should be repaired. However, this time the company was thinking outside the box and went along with the public, letting the mailboxes become a public attraction — it has even hired postmen for the public to snap photographs with.
This creative response also has the potential for making money. The post office could charge people for taking photographs or it could develop a product line of leaning mailboxes.
If people were to criticize the frenzy over the mailboxes and say that the potential for profiting from it was less than ideal, it would be because they have not given thought to the protection of intellectual property rights. Indeed, the mailboxes were bent because of the power of nature and the lean was not manufactured, however, there are different types of intellectual property rights and something does not have to be of human origin to enjoy such protection. Developing a series of leaning mailbox products requires a comprehensive arrangement of design patents, copyrights and trademark rights.
Some people might think that even if those leaning mailboxes could be seen as “creative,” it is not a matter of advanced creativity.
However, it is a misunderstanding to think that creativity has to be advanced to have business potential. For example, Disney, the epitome of the cultural and creative industry. If animation skills are the only thing that counts, Taiwan has a wealth of talent.
Yet when it comes to industrial practices, Taiwan is behind. Why is that? The key is not so much a matter of advanced technology, but rather a matter of how people think and how they operate their business.
Many government-sponsored programs for cooperation between industry and academia stress the need for inventing in forward-looking technologies. Such inventions are, of course, very important for industry, but many business opportunities are not limited to advanced technologies. The leaning mailboxes are a great example of this.
Where there is joy, there is business opportunity. The leaning mailboxes are not cultural and creative artifacts, but through the application of human intellect, they could become just that. One can only hope that this would be a positive lesson left behind by Typhoon Soudelor.
Chiang Ya-chi is an assistant professor at National Taipei University of Technology.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
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