Regulations expected to curb discs piracy<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government expects the recent enactment of a set of
\nregulations on optical discs will enable it to significantly curb
\nrampant piracy, which one estimate says accounts for about 90
\npercent of optical discs produced in the country.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Industry's director general for agricultural,
\nchemical and forestry products, Benny Wahyudi, said that
\nGovernment Regulation No. 29\/2004 on high technology production
\nfacilities for optical discs should substantially reduce the
\nestimated 320 million pirated optical discs, which come mostly in
\nthe form of DVDs, VCDs, CDs and software products.<\/p>\n
"Most of the legal loopholes for producing pirated discs are
\nnow closed with the regulation," said Benny, adding that the
\nregulation was supported by two decrees, one by the Ministry of
\nIndustry and the other from the Ministry of Trade, all of which
\ncame into effect in April.<\/p>\n
The rulings would require all the 150 optical disc producing
\nfactories, of which about 140 are allegedly involved in some form
\nof piracy, to obtain specific operating licenses from the
\nministry.<\/p>\n
The factories also have to register their machines, stamp
\nfactory identification codes on the discs they produce and file
\nquarterly reports on their production activities with the
\nministry.<\/p>\n
The International Intellectual Property Alliance -- a United
\nStates-based industry group focusing on preventing copyright
\nviolations -- cited the enactment of the optical disc regulation
\nas a positive sign in Indonesia's battle against piracy.<\/p>\n
The IIPA estimated that 92 percent of movies, 80 percent of
\nmusic and 87 percent of software sold in Indonesia was pirated,
\nleading to potential losses of at least US$203.6 million to
\ncopyright holders.<\/p>\n
Due to the high piracy rate and lax enforcement of the
\nintellectual property laws, the United States Trade
\nRepresentative's Office has placed Indonesia in its Priority
\nWatch List since 1996.<\/p>\n
The USTR has announced that it will conduct an out-of-cycle
\nreview to monitor Indonesia's progress on intellectual property
\nrights, which could lead to a reclassification of its status.<\/p>\n
The Priority Watch List, which consists of 14 countries, is
\none step below the most severe category of Priority Foreign
\nCountry. A country categorized as a Priority Foreign Country
\ncould have its preferential trade benefits revoked. (002)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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