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)