Minister of Law: Commercial Use of Journalistic Works Requires Royalty Payment

Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas has confirmed that the revision of the Copyright Bill will strengthen the protection of journalistic works by affirming the obligation to pay royalties for their commercial use. Supratman stated that the government has completed the Problem Inventory List for the Copyright Bill and will soon submit it to the House of Representatives for discussion. “We have discussed this. I have met with all media leaders and media owners. The DIM draft is complete. We will send it to the DPR soon,” Supratman said in Jakarta on Thursday. He emphasised that the main substance of the revision is not the royalty collection mechanism, whether through a Collective Management Organisation or a business-to-business scheme, but rather providing legal certainty that journalistic works are copyright objects that must be protected. “The most important thing is that journalistic work is a copyright that must be protected,” he said. According to him, any use of journalistic works by digital platforms or other parties for commercial purposes must be accompanied by royalty payments to the rights holders. “If it is then published by a platform or other party for commercial purposes, the royalty must be paid. The matter of the royalty collection mechanism and the agreement will be discussed later,” he said. Previously, the Press Council proposed the recognition of economic rights for journalistic works in the revision of the Copyright Law as an effort to strengthen the sustainability of the media industry in the digital era. The Chair of the Press Council’s Digital and Sustainability Commission, Dahlan Dahi, said that current provisions do not provide adequate protection for the economic value of journalistic works because these works can be utilised by various parties simply by citing the source without a mechanism for sharing economic benefits.