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)