Govt vows action on intellectual property rights<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government will step up its campaign
\nagainst violations of intellectual property rights and will try
\nto increase public awareness of the importance of the issue,
\nMinister\/State Secretary Moerdiono said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Moerdiono said the government would mount raids against those
\ninvolved in intellectual piracy, give harsher sentences to the
\npirates and make every effort to prevent the importation of
\npirated products.<\/p>\n
Moerdiono was speaking after a meeting between Attorney
\nGeneral Singgih, Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman and Police
\nChief Gen. Banurusman, in which they evaluated the protection of
\nintellectual property rights in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The minister said that, so far, penalties against violators of
\ncopyright had been very lenient. \"We will get tougher against
\nthem,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said that the escalation of the campaign had nothing to do
\nwith the accusations made by \"a certain country\" against
\nIndonesia. \"It is merely domestic law enforcement,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has been said to be the next target of the United
\nStates' anti-copyright piracy campaign, after its Trade
\nRepresentatives succeeded in their campaign against violations of
\ncopyrights, patents and trademarks in China.<\/p>\n
A computer software manufacturer in the U.S. has also
\nreportedly lobbied its government to investigate allegations that
\nIndonesia had become a haven for pirated computer software.<\/p>\n
Moerdiono admitted yesterday that the authorities were facing
\ndifficulties in their anti-piracy drive because of a lack of law
\nenforcement resources.<\/p>\n
Complex<\/p>\n
\"The problem is complex and intellectual property rights are a
\nnew issue here,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Moerdiono said that the Directorate of Patents of the Ministry
\nof Justice had received 10,000 applications for patents but that,
\nso far, only 178 had been processed. Indonesia passed the Patent
\nAct in 1989.<\/p>\n
\"This shows that the ability of our staff to judge whether a
\npatent deserves protection or not is still very limited,\"
\nMoerdiono said.<\/p>\n
He said that the directorate had received about 32,000
\napplications for trademark registration, 5,000 applications for
\nservice trademark registration and thousands of applications for
\ntrademark extensions.<\/p>\n
Moerdiono said that, of that number, only 26,000 applications
\nhad been processed.<\/p>\n
The minister said the government would work hard to increase
\nthe quality and size of the directorate's personnel.<\/p>\n
\"The implementation of intellectual property rights is
\nimportant for this country because it will help boost human
\nresources development,\" he said. (tis)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-vows-action-on-intellectual-property-rights-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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