Appreciation of copyright

A dispute is best solved amicably by disputing parties. Yet, sometimes, legal process is perhaps more helpful as society can learn from it. This likely applies to the lawsuit filed by author Yudhistira Ardi Nugraha Massardi against Ahmad Dani, a musician of Dewa group, for using the title of his novel Arjuna Mencari Cinta (Arjuna Searches for Love) as a song title.

Previously, the poet Sapardi Djoko Damono was surprised to learn that his poem entitled Aku Ingin (I want) whose lines run, "I want to love you like a flame loves fire ..." had been used in a television soap opera without his knowledge.

Piracy and counterfeiting occur freely here due to weak law enforcement. Some TV soap operas plagiarize or imitate foreign works but never clearly disclose the sources. If this becomes the basic attitude of our creators, it is clearly shameful.

Creators should respect and uphold copyright. In the art world, a thief cannot be tolerated. The 1982 Law on Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights must be brought to the attention of our creative workers.

If the lawsuit proceeds, people in the art industry will know that they can no longer freely plagiarize the work of another artist. Creating art works is not as easy as making meatballs because it is not only the brain which is used; it involves feelings, contemplation and sublime ideas.

Our artists are generally not obsessed with money. But, it does not mean that they have no right to receive recognition for their creations used by other people, moreover for commercial purposes.

--Warta Kota, Jakarta