Journalistic Royalties to be Regulated, Commercial Users Required to Pay

The government plans to strengthen the protection of journalistic works by including them as copyright objects in the revision of Law Number 28 of 2014 on Copyright. If passed, any party using journalistic works for commercial purposes will be required to obtain permission and pay royalties. Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas stated that the ministry is currently preparing the measure through discussions on the revision of the Copyright Law. He emphasised that this regulation will provide legal certainty for the press industry in the digital era. “So that anyone who uses it for commercial purposes is obliged to obtain permission from the rights holder, and it is most certain that for commercial purposes they are obliged to fulfil their obligation to pay royalties,” Supratman said in Jakarta on Friday (26/6). According to Supratman, this regulation aims to provide stronger protection for journalistic works, which have often been used by other parties without permission, especially for commercial gain. “In principle, in the upcoming copyright law, even journalistic works will be increasingly protected,” he said. The statement was made in response to a complaint from a television news editor, Abdul Gafur, who reported that journalistic content produced by his media outlet had been used by other parties for commercial purposes without permission. Supratman expressed hope that all parties would support this government effort. With the new regulation, it is believed that various issues related to the use of journalistic works that have been detrimental to the press industry can be minimised.