Disney prefers out-of-court settlements
Disney prefers out-of-court settlements
JAKARTA (JP): The Walt Disney company is choosing to use the
out-of-court approach in its fight against piracy of its products
in Indonesia, its local representative said yesterday.
Director of Walt Disney consumer products in Indonesia, Scott
Edmonds, told reporters that the company prefers to talk to the
counterfeiters, ask them to make a public apology in newspapers,
and sign a statement to not do it again, rather than bring them
to court.
"This is a family company and we intend to settle the matter
based on family values," Edmonds said at a press conference to
open a live show of Disney's characters.
Edmonds said the company is monitoring those that had signed
an agreement, to make sure that they will not repeat the offense.
He explained that this "unique" approach has been very
effective in fighting piracy of the intellectual property in
Indonesia because counterfeiters keep their word.
"In fact, some of our major licensees used to be
counterfeiting companies. But since they can produce high quality
goods and have very good distribution chains, we agree to get
legal license of our characters," he said, adding that the
approach is widely implemented all over the world.
Edmonds said that about 15 Indonesian companies have been
found to be counterfeiting Disney's characters, and there are
about 30 other companies which are considered as open cases, but
still the company has no intention of bringing them to court.
According to Edmonds, out-of-court settlements serve as better
education for both the consumers and the counterfeiters.
Edmonds stressed that the parties which suffer the most from
counterfeit practices are local producers, not the Walt Disney
Company.
Practice
"The practice is damaging local licensees because they have
lost an opportunity to sell more of their products," Edmonds
said, adding that total losses may reach US$35 million.
Marketing General Manager of PT Great River Industries, which
holds a license of Disney's children apparel, Ellen Hidayat, said
that counterfeit products are cheaper, but are made with lower
quality materials.
"However, the condition is getting better, after Disney
established its representative office here in Jakarta, because
all we have to do is to report any counterfeiting activity and
they are the ones who take further action to settle it," Ellen
said.
She added that the condition may also be caused by the
implementation of the new anti-piracy law, which threatens
imprisonment, as well as hefty fines for counterfeiters.(yns)