Improvement in Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Indonesia

The United States officially announced in April 2006 that Indonesia still remains on the Priority Watch List in 2006. This is a sad fact especially having noted how the Indonesian government has boosted its efforts in trying to eradicate Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) piracy. In fact, to be regarded as a credible member of the international community and to have a better framework for IPR, Indonesia has over the years become a participant of major IPR convention such as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, as well as several WIPO treaties. In addition to this Indonesia has also ratified the Agreement Establishing World Trade Organization (WTO), and thereafter the TRIPS Agreement.

The US government believes that Indonesian laws and regulations structures on IPR are in place but in fact prosecution of Intellectual Property Rights violations remains insufficient. In Indonesia, pirated optical media products (CDs, VCDs, DVDs and CD-ROMs) still dominate the local market, and 29 mass-producing optical disc plants remain in operation. On July 25, 2005 the Indonesian Minister of Industry (MoI) issued a new regulation requiring importers of optical disc machinery and optical grade polycarbonate to provide the MoI with detailed information about the origin, type, quantity and destination of these products. One MoI official said that the new regulation can help the government keeps checks on the location of optical disc factories and their production capacities. This new law was enacted in keeping in mind the problems of enforcement of IPR. The Indonesian authorities have been conducting several effective raids on retail shops selling pirated software in 2004 and 2005, resulting in the seizure and destruction of several hundreds thousand of copies of pirated software. Moreover, the Supreme Court has a very promising proven track record in giving decisions on IPR cases especially on cases involving well-known marks. The rulings by the Court together with recent systematic improvements at the Trademark Office have made it much harder for famous marks to be registered by unscrupulous third parties. Changes have also been enacted to include the enforcement of IPR and a comprehensive system to enforce trademark rights in Indonesia.

However, while Indonesia has a fairly well developed legislative framework in place, it continues to struggle with the problems of poor enforcement and dispute resolution mechanisms. The United States Trade Representative listed the problems in Indonesia as being one of “lack of effective Intellectual Property Rights enforcement, adequacy of the new regulations to reduce the production, distribution and export of pirated optical media products and … deficiencies in Indonesia’s judicial system” (Letter from the International Intellectual Property Alliance to Ms. Sybia Harrison, Special Assistant to the Section 301 Committee dated 2 December 2005).

The United States urges Indonesia to conduct more frequent raids on counterfeit factories, more frequent seizures of pirated goods, its machineries and to ensure that courts impose detention sentences for IPR crimes. However, the United States is aware of Indonesia’s effort in this field and has praised Indonesia’s improvement in IPR enforcement, especially in respect of new regulations and the establishment of a Ministerial-level national Intellectual Property Task Force. It is expected that IPR enforcement will continue improving.