RI strengthens intellectual property laws<\/p>\n
By Deborah Cameron<\/p>\n
JAKARTA: When is a Chanel bag, a Beatles CD or an Indonesia-
\nEnglish dictionary, not what it seems? The answer: When it is a
\ncopy. And in Jakarta, fakes are for sale at traffic lights and
\nmarket stalls, or are being passed off as originals in mall
\nboutiques.<\/p>\n
Part of the reason, according to the vice chairman of the
\nPresidential Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Bambang
\nKesowo, is that there are serious shortcomings in Indonesia's
\nintellectual property rights law and local legal expertise.<\/p>\n
\"But now we are doing something about it,\" Bambang said.<\/p>\n
Five judges from Indonesia's Supreme and District Courts are
\namong 18 key officials who will spend the next three months in
\nAustralia studying Intellectual Property Rights law.<\/p>\n
\"You will become national assets in an area that is important
\nfor the future of our country,\" Bambang told them as they
\nprepared to leave.<\/p>\n
Legislation, administration, management, and enforcement will
\nbe covered during the course, which has been especially designed
\nfor Indonesia by the law faculty of the University of Technology
\nSydney.<\/p>\n
They will also meet and work with Australian judges, police,
\nlawyers, and senior public servants.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has until the year 2000 to meet its obligations
\nunder the 1995 agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
\nProperty Rights (TRIPS).<\/p>\n
According to Bambang, significant legislative steps are
\nalready being taken with laws covering patents, plant variety
\nrights, trade and industrial designs expected to be introduced to
\nthe House of Representatives in the next two months.<\/p>\n
The Australian training program is geared towards
\nstrengthening administration, staff skills, and working
\nprocedures.<\/p>\n
The training is part of the Indonesia Australia Specialized
\nTraining Project, which has received a three-year funding package
\nof $17.5 million from the Australian Agency for International
\nDevelopment (AusAid). Earlier this year the project ran a major
\nconference and workshop on Intellectual Property Rights in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the opening of that conference the deputy
\nAmbassador for the Australian embassy, Murray Cobban described
\ncommercial and legal regimes as \"an increasingly critical
\ncomponent of the process of globalization and international
\ncompetitiveness.\"<\/p>\n
\"Both our countries have an interest in intellectual property
\nregimes which are consistent with internationality agreed
\nstandards,\" Cobban said.<\/p>\n
\"We believe that this project will help us all to further
\nenhance our understanding of these regimes and of their
\napplications.\"<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government, recognizing the need for change,
\nhas set up a presidential Commission on Intellectual Property
\nRights and supported the efforts of Bambang Kesewo who is a key
\nmember of the Australian-Indonesia Ministerial Forum sub-group on
\nintellectual property.<\/p>\n
It was a ministerial forum initiative to organize the three-
\nmonth Australian course which will not only involve judges but
\nalso senior police and officials from the Ministries of Justice,
\nIndustry and Trade, Customs and Excise, Attorney General, the
\nCabinet Secretariat, and the Patents Office.<\/p>\n
The problems in Indonesia were highlighted earlier this month
\nwhen police raided a printing workshop in Jakarta and reportedly
\nseized copies of an illegally published English - Indonesian
\ndictionary which was under copyright to a university in the
\nUnited States.<\/p>\n
But there is another side to the coin. According to Kesowo,
\nIndonesian companies and government officials have been
\nintimidated because of their lack of knowledge by big
\ninternational companies claiming ownership even after patents
\nhave expired.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia has to know its own rights,\" Kesowo said.<\/p>\n
Intellectual Property Rights law covers the protection of
\nindustrial property including patents, utility models, industrial
\ndesigns, trademark, service marks, trade names and indications of
\nsource and origin. These laws protect the rights of creative
\nworkers in literary, artistic, industrial and scientific fields
\nwhich can be protected by copyright, trade marks and patents.<\/p>\n
\"In many areas Indonesia law does not fulfill its obligations
\nor there is no real experience in putting the laws into effect,\"
\nthe in-country manager of AusAID's Indonesia-Australia Specialist
\nTraining Project, Rosalina Syahriar said.<\/p>\n
According to Associate Professor Philip Griffith of the
\nUniversity of Technology Sydney, there is only so much that can
\nbe achieved by heaping the goods up in one place and starting a
\nbonfire.<\/p>\n
\"What countries need is a legal framework,\" Prof. Griffith
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"It is a well known and worldwide phenomena that developing
\ncountries have little respect for intellectual property laws,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Prof. Griffith said that Indonesia had realized that the
\nprotection of intellectual property was important as countries
\nmoved towards the era of global trade and deregulated markets.<\/p>\n
\"The recognition of intellectual property is as important to
\ninternational trade as a good water supply - it gives a basic
\ncomfort level,\" Prof. Griffith said.<\/p>\n
Human resources development has been identified as an area of
\nneed by the Indonesian government and is a high priority for
\nAusAid. Australia annually contributes about $30 million - around
\n30 percent of its aid - to education and training programs
\ninvolving Indonesians.<\/p>\n
Deborah Cameron is publicity officer for the Australian Agency
\nfor International Development (AusAID).<\/p>\n
-- AusAID<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-strengthens-intellectual-property-laws-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }