Enforcement aw on copyright

Enforcement aw on copyright

From Media Indonesia

The Law No. 18/2003 on Copyright began to be enforced throughout Indonesia on July 29, 2003. The enforcement of this law, however, has led to pros and cons in the community. Some people feel disadvantaged by this enforcement while others feel otherwise.

In fact, this law is just a newer version of Law No. 12/1997 on the same matter.

Actually, the crux of the matter is the extent the law is effectively enforceable. Are there enough prisons for those violating the law? Can the government bring the violators to court? Ironically, in many cases, copyright holders are patent holders, not the people originally creating the products.

According to the Islamic teachings, all inventions in any areas belong to the public and cannot be patented. Islam prohibits repeated selling of copyrights.

"Whoever has a mastery of a particular knowledge and hides it will be bound by God with the fire from hell."

Islam highly respects someone's creation. That's why in Islam, someone who writes a book will receive a reward of gold the weight of the book he has written. In history, Caliph Al Makmun awarded to Hunain bin Ishak gold weighing the same as the books he translated into Arabic.

FARIDA YULIANTI Bogor, West Java