Government has finalized regulation on optical discs

Government has finalized regulation on optical discs

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has finalized a draft governmental regulation
to give more protection to intellectual property rights (IPR) for
software, film and music.

The draft was finalized in September 2003 and had been sent to
the office of the Secretary of State for presidential approval,
Ansori Sinangun, the deputy director of the Directorate of
Copyright, Industrial Designs, Integrated Circuit (IC) Layout
Designs and Trade Secrets of the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights said on Thursday.

Quoting data from Business Software Alliance, Ansori said that
in 2003, Indonesia had the third highest incidence of piracy with
a piracy rate of 89 percent, after Vietnam with 95 percent and
China with 92 percent.

Optical discs containing pirated software, films, music and
games are widely available in the country.

"Other Southeast Asian countries already have a similar
regulation on optical discs and they now are able to curb piracy
in the their country much better," said Ansori in a discussion
organized by South Korea-based LG Electronics Indonesia.

He said the regulation would implement the Intellectual
Property Right Law No. 19/2002 which came into effect in June
last year.

Under the planned regulation, aside from vendors and
distributors, manufacturers of pirated discs also risk being
imprisoned or having their business licenses revoked.

"Under the regulation, we could go to the manufacturer, check
their licenses and orders. If the production does not match with
orders, there must be something wrong and we can take action,"
said Ansori.

Assistant Secretary of Commerce of the United States
Department of Commerce, William H. Lash III, criticized Indonesia
on Wednesday for its poor performance in combating copyright
piracy, saying American firms lost up to a quarter of a billion
U.S. dollars a year due to the unauthorized production of
software, DVDs and films in Indonesia.

He said Indonesia is now on the U.S. "priority watch list"
given the high piracy rate in the country.

"Being on their priority watch list, Indonesia risks facing
punitive measures from the U.S., such as export bans, an embargo
and other penalties," said Ansori.

On the other hand, piracy is rampant here as the original
products are considered too expensive for most of the people, he
said.

"Weak law enforcement and the lack of awareness among
consumers are the main obstacles in fighting piracy."

Ansori said that cheaper electronic goods, including those
imported from China, had also contributed to the rise in piracy
here.

"More people now can afford to buy DVD or VCD players. Since
the original DVDs and VCDs are still expensive, they would
predictably buy pirated ones," he said.

LG Electronic Indonesia marketing and sales manager Sung Khiun
said that last year a DVD player sold for around Rp 1.5 million
(US$176). Now, a good DVD play is available for only Rp 600,000
to Rp 750,000.

The firm's president Young Ha Kim said electronics
manufacturers could help fight piracy by equipping their DVD
players with a region coding system. However, installing such a
feature would increase production costs.

"The best way would be for software companies and title makers
to produce at more competitive prices," he said.