RI ratifies Bern Convention on copyrights
RI ratifies Bern Convention on copyrights
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has ratified the century-old
Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
together with three other related treaties and a copyright
convention, a minister said yesterday.
State Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said the House of
Representatives had enacted in March three new amendment laws on
copyright, trademark and patent laws to conform with the Agreement on
Trade-related Aspects of the Intellectual Property Rights of the
World Trade Organization.
"Frankly speaking, intellectual property rights is a
relatively new thing for us. Therefore we need assistance from
the international community," said Moerdiono after he accompanied
Dr. Arpad Borgsch, the Director General of the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO) in a meeting with President Soeharto
yesterday.
The President signed the ratification Wednesday.
The minister said the organization had provided technical
assistance to Indonesia in dealing with property rights problems
and provided training for its law enforcers, including police,
prosecutors and judges.
Besides the 1886 Bern Convention, Indonesia also ratified
other related conventions and treaties including the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty, the
1893 Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property,
the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and the Trademark Law Treaty.
Indonesia has become the first country in the world to ratify
the new WIPO Copyright Treaty, issued in December last year.
In yesterday's meeting, President Soeharto presented Borgsch
with the highest award for a foreigner, the Bintang Jasa Utama
for his efforts in helping Indonesia deal with copyright laws.
"Indonesia is regarded as a prominent developing country in
dealing with intellectual property rights problems," Moerdiono
said.
Moerdiono said Indonesia's piracy record had frequently come
under the spotlight, as awareness of the protection of literary
and artistic works was still poor.
But he said the government was committed to taking all
necessary measures to curb piracies, including on cassettes,
books and computer software.
Figures from the International Federation of Phonograph
Industries showed that from Indonesia's monthly sales of up to
seven million tapes and CDs, 20 percent were foreign music. Nine
percent of these were pirated.
"Personally I believe our priority must be given to big
companies and not small pirates, because they use super high
technology to multiply pirated cassettes," said Moerdiono.
The WIPO held a three-day roundtable on the protection and
collective management of copyright and neighboring rights for
Asian countries Monday in cooperation with the Indonesian
Presidential Commission on Intellectual Property Rights and the
Karya Cipta Indonesia Foundation (YCKI).
Sixteen countries participated in the roundtable which
discussed neighboring rights and protecting the rights of
creators, performers and broadcasters. (06)