Intellectual property rights key to investor confidence

JAKARTA (JP): The protection of intellectual property rights has become a crucial factor in ensuring foreigner investor confidence.

The director general of intellectual property rights at the Ministry of Law and Legislation, A. Zen Umar Purba, touched on this growing correlation between the protection of property rights and investment.

"If Indonesia is known worldwide for promoting property rights then investors will feel assured in expanding their business here," Purba told The Jakarta Post.

Indonesia ratified the international agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in 1994.

Purba admitted the number of Indonesians registering their inventions or products was still low. According to the latest data from his office, Indonesians account for only 4 percent of the 20,000 applications for patent rights received since 1991.

"However, it's a common situation that the number of locals registering their products for patents is lower. For example, in Singapore it is less than 1 percent, while in Canada it is about 7 (percent)," he said.

Purba encouraged the public to register their inventions to obtain the patent rights. "You can automatically obtain a copyright if you are the first to issue a product, but you can only get the patent rights if you are the first to register."

Purba said his office was drafting several bills to keep up with global developments in property rights, which have expanded from regulating rights on patents, copyrights and brands, to more detailed aspects in line with developments in technology.

The bills are on industrial design, the layout design of integrated circuits used in the semiconductor industry and trade secrets to protect formulas or recipes for medicine and food.

The Ministry of Agriculture is contributing a bill on plant varieties.

Purba said his office also was taking strategic steps besides drafting the bills, namely developing a fully automated system to register property rights in countries which are members of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which is affiliated with the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization.

"Besides that, we will enhance our human resources so people can apply for property rights from every regional office," he said, adding that the main office is currently located in Tangerang, West Java, but will soon be relocated to Jakarta.

A three-day forum on enhancing cooperation and harmonizing property rights regulations within countries in Southeast Asia will be held in Denpasar, Bali, starting on Tuesday.

"This forum can be used as our vehicle to gain international recognition of our policies protecting property rights," he said. (bby)