Magazine chief editor jailed for copyright violation

Magazine chief editor jailed for copyright violation

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced a monthly
magazine's chief editor on Monday to one year in jail for
illegally publishing a number of racy photographs featuring Ratna
Sari Dewi, one of former president Soekarno's wives.

Defendant Warsito Wahono, who directs Indonesia's What's On
magazine, was also ordered to pay Rp 10 million in damages to
Dewi.

In its verdict, the court found Warsito guilty of the illegal
publication of the photos in edition No. 138 of the magazine,
which hit the newsstands in November 1998.

The photos were taken from a book by Dewi titled Madame D
Syuga.

"The defendant is also guilty of publishing materials that
have been banned by the government," said presiding Judge
Rukmini.

The panel of judges, which also included Bambang Sriwulan and
Panusunan Harahap, rejected Warsito's defense that he had not
violated copyright law as his magazine had mentioned the source
of the pictures in the article, which primarily concerned Dewi's
controversial life.

Warsito was charged under article 44 of Law No. 12/1997 on
copyright, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail
and liability to pay damages of up to Rp 100 million.

Previously, prosecutor M. Manik recommended that the court
sentence Warsito to two years in jail and order him to pay Rp 20
million in damages.

Warsito told reporters after the hearing that he would appeal.

The government banned Dewi's book Madame D Syuga in 1993. Dewi
married Soekarno in the early 1960s.

Photographer Hideki Fuji took the pictures of her between May
and August 1993. They were later published in the book by Scholar
Publisher's Inc.

Dewi, otherwise known as Naoko Nemoto, possesses the copyright
to the book as the publisher went bankrupt some years ago.

Dewi, who claimed that the magazine had never asked her for
permission to publish the pictures, reported Warsito to the
Jakarta Police on Feb. 9, 1999.

She filed two complaints, one of defamation and one of
copyright violation. However, Warsito could only be charged with
copyright violation as the defamation action was considered
statute barred due to the fact that under the Criminal Law
Procedures Code the right to take such an action only subsists
for one year after a complaint has been lodged.

Violations of copyright law are nothing new here. However, few
of the cases come before the criminal courts despite the
existence of the law on copyright.

According to prosecutor Manik, Dewi's case was the first of
its kind handled by the Central Jakarta Prosecutors Office.

Usually, a person or corporation that is a victim of a
copyright violation files a lawsuit in the civil courts against
the alleged violators.

Giant computer producer Microsoft Corp. sued five local
computer vendors last year for illegally installing some of its
software in the computers they sold.

The Central Jakarta District Court and the West Jakarta
District Court found the vendors to have violated copyright law
and ordered them to pay between US$800,000 and $4.4 million in
damages.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance estimated
revenue losses from copyright piracy in Indonesia in 1999 reached
US$186 million.