Singaporean expert fails to testify

Singaporean expert fails to testify

JAKARTA (JP): The president of Singapore-based ASEAN
Intellectual Property Association, the defendant in the first
ever cybercrime case here, failed to testify at a hearing held at
the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.

Prosecutor Suhardi presented Murgiana Haq as an expert witness
in the trial of Tjandra Sugiono, who was charged with fraudulent
competition for illegally registering the domain name, Mustika
Ratu.com.

Tjandra, the former general manager of international marketing
cosmetic firm, PT Martina Berto, the main competitor of PT
Mustika Ratu, was ill, according to his lawyer Didi Irawadi
Syamsuddin.

Presiding Judge Chasiany R. Tandjung, who looked disappointed,
warned him not to obstruct the legal process before adjourning
the session for a week.

Fierce competition between the two giant cosmetics producers,
PT Mustika Ratu and PT Martina Berto, has been long-running.

Last year, the two were wrangled in a legal battle over the
Taman Sari trademark. PT Mustika won the case as it had
registered the copyright in 1997.

The two companies also competed to win the hearts of
reporters. They, as well as Tjandra, distributed press releases
at the court building each time the session was held.

PT Martina and Tjandra, a nephew-in-law of the company's owner
Martha Tilaar, even hired public relation firms to help them deal
with the press.

Meanwhile, a clerk at the court, who wished to remain
anonymous, told The Jakarta Post that PT Mustika would give some
money to reporters and the court's officers should they support
them during the trial.

However, spokeswoman of PT Mustika, Retno Wigatiningrum,
strongly denied the statement.

"Who said that? We would never do that, it is against law,"
she told the Post.(04)