Dewi Sukarno testifies against 'What's On' editor<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Ratna Sari Dewi, one of former president Sukarno's wives,
\nappeared during a hearing of the Central Jakarta District Court
\non Tuesday to testify against What's On monthly magazine's chief
\neditor, Warsito Wahono.<\/p>\n
Warsito is being prosecuted for the alleged illegal
\npublication in What's On, edition No. 138 of November 1998, of
\nsome photographs of Dewi taken from her book Syuga .<\/p>\n
State prosecutors charged Warsito under article 44 (1) of Law
\nNo. 12\/1997 on copyright, which carries a maximum penalty of
\nseven years in jail and damages of up to Rp 100 million
\n(US$9,800).<\/p>\n
Wearing a blue suit, Dewi, who now resides in Tokyo, claimed
\nthat Warsito had never asked her permission to publish the
\npictures in What's On.<\/p>\n
\"I felt very disappointed as the article failed to present the
\nphotos as sophisticated art. Instead, it has ruined my
\nreputation,\" the 62-year-old witness told the hearing, which was
\npresided over by Judge Rukmini.<\/p>\n
Married to Sukarno in the early 1960s, Dewi, whose real name
\nis Naoko Nemoto, sparked controversy in Indonesia by posing
\nsensually in Syuga. Her pictures were taken by photographer
\nHideki Fuji between May and August 1993. The book was later
\npublished by Scholar Publisher's Inc., which went bankrupt
\nseveral years ago. The copyright to Syuga belongs to Dewi.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government banned distribution of the book
\nfollowing the controversy.<\/p>\n
Upset with the What's On decision to publish the photos, Dewi
\nfiled two complaints, one for defamation and one for breach of
\ncopyright, against Warsito with the Jakarta Police on Feb. 9,
\n1999.<\/p>\n
However, state prosecutor M. Manik only charged Warsito with
\nbreach of copyright as the defamation action became statute
\nbarred in 2000, or a year after Dewi filed her complaint, based
\non Criminal Procedure Law.<\/p>\n
Warsito insisted that Dewi had authorized him to reproduce the
\npictures and that he had stated the source of the pictures in the
\narticle.<\/p>\n
Violation of copyright law is nothing new here. In 1999, the
\nInternational Intellectual Property Alliance estimated revenue
\nlosses from copyright piracy in Indonesia reached US$186 million.<\/p>\n
Last year, giant computer producer Microsoft Corp. sued five
\nlocal computer vendors for illegally installing some of its
\nsoftware. Microsoft won after the courts stated the vendors had
\nviolated copyright law and ordered them to pay damages of between
\n$800,000 and $4.4 million.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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