Each culture typically has complex rules and customs regarding designs represented on poles. The designs are generally considered the property of a particular clan or family group, and this ownership may not be transferred to the owner of a pole. As such, pictures, paintings, and other copies of the designs are often seen as an infringement of the ownership rights of a certain family or cultural group. Many Native artists, Native organizations and Native governments note that ownership of the artistic designs represented on a pole should be respected as private property to the same extent as the pole. They ask that public display and sale of pictures and other representations of totem pole designs be cleared with the owners of the pole and the cultural group or tribal government associated with the pole's designs