Cosmetics company starts legal battle over domain

JAKARTA (JP): A former manager of local giant cosmetic producer PT Martina Berto stood trial on Thursday at the Central Jakarta District Court for illegally registering the domain name MustikaRatu.com after the company's main rival PT Mustika Ratu.

Prosecutor Suhardi charged Tjandra Sugiono, 32, a former general manager of PT Martina Berto, which produces Sari Ayu cosmetics, with practicing unfair business competition by registering the domain name in the United States.

"Sometime in October 1999, the defendant -- who was assigned by his company to develop its market abroad, registered a computer site named MustikaRatu.com in the United States as part of efforts to promote his company's cosmetics products there," Suhardi told the court presided over by Judge Tjasiani Tandjung.

But customers cannot purchase Mustika Ratu products through the Internet, while their products are popular in the U.S. This was disadvantageous to PT Mustika Ratu as many customers abroad thought that PT Mustika Ratu has stopped operations, Suhardi said.

It is the second legal battle between the two local cosmetic giants. The first dispute between them occurred in October last year when PT Mustika Ratu lodged a complaint against PT Martina Berto over the right to use the name "Taman Sari".

Mustika Ratu won its suit after the Directorate General for Intellectual and Property Rights ruled that the brand name belonged to Mustika Ratu, which had registered the name with the authorities before Martha Tilaar, the owner of PT Martina Berto, did.

Suhardi charged Tjandra for violating Article 382 of the Criminal Code on fraudulent competition. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to a maximum of sixteen months in jail.

The prosecutors also charged Tjandra with violating Article 48 and Article 19 of the Antimonopoly Law No. 5/1999 which requires he pay Rp 25 billion to Rp 100 billion as a fine should he found guilty, or to be sentenced to six months in jail.

Meanwhile, Aldia of the Ogilvy public relations company representing PT Martina Berto told The Jakarta Post that Tjandra resigned from the company in June last year and his actions had nothing to do with PT Martina Berto.

The court adjourned until Aug. 9 to hear the response of defense Lawyer Didi Syamsuddin. (tso)