Mixed reactions to justice council

By Ida Indawati Khouw

JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court's decision to set up special justice councils on intellectual property rights and banking has drawn mixed reactions from lawyers and observers.

Some say the court's decision is progressive but others doubt that the councils will be able to solve the increasingly complicated problems facing the judiciary.

But most favor the creation of the special councils.

Intellectual property rights observer Insan Budi Maulana said it was "a good idea".

On June 9, Chief Justice Sarwata announced the councils' formation to anticipate free trade in the next century.

The council on intellectual property rights is co-chaired by Sarwata and Deputy Chief Justice Th. Ketut Suraputra. The council on banking is headed by Deputy Chief Justice for Civil Courts Mochamad Iman.

To improve judges' knowledge on intellectual property rights, Sarwata said, the court would hold a training program this month for junior judges aged below 35 years.

In May, Indonesia ratified five international conventions on intellectual property rights. Suraputra said the conventions should now be respected as Indonesian law.

The five conventions on intellectual property rights are the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and Regulation under the PCT; the Trade Mark Law Treaty; the Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works; and WIPO Copyright Treaty.

Suraputra said the Supreme Court was compiling a list of intellectual property rights cases to be processed.

Maulana said he hoped the council would consist of qualified judges who have sound knowledge on trademarks, not only international or famous trademarks but also local ones.

He said he hoped the council on intellectual property rights would not only handle cases but also seek to end unfair competition as stipulates in the Paris Convention. Indonesia, he added, still discriminates between local registrar with foreign one.

Local registrars of intellectual property rights should list company statutes and taxpayer registration numbers, whereas foreign registrars did not, Maulana said.

"Why are local businesspeople discriminated against?" he said.

He said that other local regulations also did not comply with the conventions.

Maulana said a controversial instruction issued in February by the director general of copyrights, patents and trademarks should be canceled because it did not comply with the Trademark Law Treaty, which regulates trademark registration.

The director general's instruction states that all trademark renewal applications should be supported with a statement from relevant business authorities to certify that the trademarks are being used.

"If we have not put this simple principle into practice, what is the use of ratifying the conventions," said Maulana who works for the Lubis, Santosa and Maulana law firm.

Suraputra also stressed the conflict between the conventions and national law. He declined to say whether the conventions would overrule local law.

Chandra Darusman of the Yayasan Karya Cipta Indonesia foundation praised the Supreme Court's decision for being progressive.

"It is a great scheme," he said.

But not everybody praised the move.

Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation chairman Bambang Widjojanto said the court had more urgent issues to address than the council's formation.

"I don't say that the special councils are not important," Bambang said.

But, he said, the Supreme Court would spend its time more profitably by figuring out how to improve as the last bastion of justice.

Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan said councils' creation had been a "reactive approach".

He said the special councils would not solve the court's problems. "There are many more urgent issues that the court should address," said Luhut, chairman of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute.

One of the most urgent issues, according to Luhut, is empowering the Supreme Court to assess the constitutionality of laws.