Indonesia to ratify Bern Convention on copyright

Indonesia to ratify Bern Convention on copyright

JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon ratify the 1886 Bern
Convention on copyrights protection, the vice cabinet secretary
of the State Secretariat Bambang Kesowo said yesterday.

The ratification is scheduled to take place this week, Bambang
said at the opening of a three-day discussion on copyrights in
Asia.

"We have sent the proposal to ratify the convention to the
President, and it has been discussed with the Ministry of
Justice, the attorney general and the National Police," he said.

Although Indonesia's piracy record has frequently come under
the spotlight, Bambang said, "We are new in the field... but we
are willing to learn."

Figures from the International Federation of Phonograph
Industries showed that from Indonesia's monthly sales of up to
seven million tapes and CDs, 20 percent were foreign music. Nine
percent of these were pirated.

Bambang said the ratification of the convention, one of five
conventions on copyrights, was a step further to upholding
copyright protection.

"We expect more respect for our copyrights, and conversely we
will be expected to do the same," he said.

The roundtable on the protection and collective management of
copyright and neighboring rights for Asian countries is being
organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
in cooperation with the Indonesian Presidential Commission on
Intellectual Property Rights and the Karya Cipta Indonesia
Foundation (YKCI).

On March 21 the House of Representatives revised the
copyright, trademark and patent laws to conform with the
Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of the Intellectual Property
Rights of the World Trade Organization.

Carlos Fernandez Ballesteros, the assistant director general
for WIPO, said the step would "hopefully set an example for other
countries in Asia".

Ballesteros hailed Indonesia's decision to become the 126th
member of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

He said on May 8 Indonesia would deposit to the WIPO director
the general instruments of accession to the Berne Convention and
to six other WIPO conventions on the protection of intellectual
property.

He said people had realized the need for effective protection
of literary and artistic works.

"Never before (has) the century-old Berne Convention for the
Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, been so popular and
important as it is today."

He said the 16 countries participating in the roundtable would
also discuss neighboring rights, which protect the rights of
creators, performers and broadcasters.

Apart from YKCI general manager Candra Darusman, other
speakers at the meeting include Ang Kwee Tiang, regional director
of the Singapore-based regional office for Asia-Pacific under the
International Confederation of Societies of Authors and
Composers.

Japanese Seji Odaki, chief of the international relations
department of the Tokyo-based Society for Authors, Composers and
Publishers, is due to speak today. (anr)