Indonesia admits failure in implementing WTO commitments
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government has notified the World Trade Organization it will be unable to implement the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) by Jan. 1 as it committed to in 1995.
Director General for Intellectual Property Rights A. Zen Umar Purba told The Jakarta Post the government and the House of Representatives were working on reforming three old laws and three new bills on intellectual property rights (IPR).
"We explained to the WTO the problems we have and are facing in fulfilling our commitments to TRIPs and I am convinced that the world organization will understand our position," Purba said.
Moreover, he added, many other developing countries failing to meet the deadline also asked for extensions on implementing the TRIPs agreement.
The government is revising three laws regarding copyrights, patents and trademarks to comply with the TRIPs agreement, and has proposed to the House bills on industrial designs, layout designs of integrated circuits and undisclosed information.
However, because the House went to recess immediately following the initial reading of the three bills last Friday, the draft legislation will most likely be completed during the next House session which begins on Jan. 20.
But drafting new laws and amending old ones are not the only tasks facing the government in its efforts to fulfill its commitments to TRIPs.
Purba acknowledged that enacting laws is one thing and enforcing them is something else entirely.
Purba conceded his office had yet to train its staff and law enforcement agencies to effectively administer and enforce IPR laws.
"Since intellectual property rights appear to most people as a highly complicated concept, we also need a nationwide campaign to build a broader base of public understanding of the importance of protecting IPRs for our economy and even our daily lives," Purba said.
As an example, he pointed to the failure by most media to report the statements made by Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra when he presented the bills on industrial designs, layout designs of integrated circuits and undisclosed information to the House last Friday.
"Almost all media only gave space to the regulation in lieu of law on the establishment of a human rights court which was proposed to the House at the same time as the three bills last week," Purba said.
He reiterated that the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights would contribute greatly to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology.
"Seen from our national interests, the reform of laws regarding the protection of intellectual property rights will also help improve the image and standing of Indonesia as a member of the international community," Purba added.
He said the United States continued to include Indonesia on its priority watch list, which groups countries with a very weak legal system for the protection of intellectual property rights.
Complaints
While the government is preoccupied revising and drafting bills, many foreign companies are complaining about what they perceive to be the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights' inability to administer existing laws.
"The directorate general has even been completely out of patent application forms since three months ago," said James B. Lumenta, an intellectual property rights consultant with Amroos & Partners law office.
Making things more complicated and frustrating is that companies, hard-pressed to meet registration deadlines, are not allowed to reproduce the forms, Lumenta added.
"Who then will be responsible for losses incurred if assignees are late in registering their patents only because they cannot get application forms at the government office," he said, recounting the frustration of his clients.
He also said the directorate general months ago stopped publishing pre-examined patent applications for public inspection and opposition by interested third parties.
"This ignorance may cause industrial companies to waste investment researching and developing a technology that may have been developed by others and has been registered at the patent office," Lumenta said.
In addition, Lumenta said there were more than 500 patent applications which had been awaiting substantive examinations for more than three years.
"I don't believe that the existing legal structure, without any substantial reform, can implement any laws regarding IPR protection," he said.
Though Indonesia has had patent and trademark laws for decades, the government has failed to establish patent and trademark appeals boards, preventing applicants from seeking redress if their applications are rejected, Lumenta added.(vin)