The fine line on pirated goods
Pirated items are on sale on almost every street corner and in malls across the country. From computer software to dictionaries, from expensive consumer goods to films -- it appears there is a market for everything.
They sell well thanks to the copycats' perfect copies. Many condemn piracy but most people enjoy its convenience. The Jakarta Post reporters Sylvia Gratia M.N., K. Basrie, Sugianto Tandra, Yogita Tahil Ramani, Johannes Simbolon, Ida Indawati Khouw, Primastuti Handayani, PJ Leo and IGGP Bayu Ismoyo uncover the story behind rampant piracy. More articles are on Page 3 and Page 9.
JAKARTA (JP): An executive was driving a new Suzuki Baleno sedan that his office leased for him. He looked smart in his fake Versace tie and his counterfeited YSL long-sleeve shirt.
His bogus Movado watch read 12:30 p.m.
He was heading to a restaurant in Central Jakarta to host a lunch for his business partner from China. On the way to the restaurant, he turned on his latest hits collection from a counterfeit compact discs he bought several weeks ago.
"Nobody would visibly know all these perfect accessories I'm wearing have bogus trademarks and, most of all, I don't feel that I have violated any law because I bought all these things legally at common shops here," Hendry told The Jakarta Post.
Indonesia, home to over 200 million people, has been a favorite places for international and local copycats for many years and the sale of these goods is growing with the country's economic development.
There is now a wide range of illegally copied products. Among the favorites are video CDs, karaoke LDs, computer software, publications, jeans and casual wear, perfumes, watches, purses, handbags and footwear.
Pirated video CDs include movies the government has banned and ones which have not been distributed here yet. The karaoke LDs are of hit songs re-recorded using the voice of other singers, while pirated computer software includes Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows 97.
Popular pirated publications are dictionaries, computer books and university text books. The copied jeans, perfumes, watches, shirts, handbags and footwear bear renowned brand names like Guess, Levi's, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Stussy, Reebok, Adidas, Alien, Versace and DKNY.
At some places in Jakarta and Central Java, customers can even order handbags with the trademark they want.
Prices
The prices of illegal products are, of course, much lower than the price of original products.
It is true that quality has its price but sometimes, like with certain video CDs and computer software, the quality of pirated goods is quite good.
The pirated version of Microsoft's popular Windows 95 software costs about Rp 15,000 at Glodok shopping center. The real thing costs about Rp 400,000.
A good-looking counterfeit Gucci handbag at Blok M shopping center costs about Rp 50,000. The original bag could cost 10 times that.
"I once bought bogus video CDs after I learned that the quality of counterfeited CDs was just as good as the original ones," an artist said.
Everyone has their own reasons for buying, or not buying, copied goods.
Oscar, a trader at West Jakarta's Mangga Dua shopping center said "foreigners, like Europeans and Asians, say buying pirated clothes and accessories makes them happy because of their reasonable prices and they don't have to worry if the goods are lost, stolen or tainted".
But intellectual property rights theft has affected other parties, particularly the real producers, their agents and the government.
PT Levi Strauss Indonesia said counterfeited Levi's blue jeans in Indonesia had affected sales and degraded the brand because the poor quality of imitations had destroyed customer's confidence in Levi's authentic products.
The Gramedia publishing company's promotions manager, G. Aris Buntarman, estimated that 99 percent of publications at book stores in Senen, Central Jakarta, and in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, and in Bandung, were pirated.
So, what's the total loss suffered by original producers?
The Association of Indonesian Recording Industries, which was set up to crack down on pirated cassettes, said piracy cost the industry billions of rupiah a year.
The association's chairman, Armel Affandi, said 1.2 million counterfeit cassettes entered the market each year.
"The government, which collects taxes worth Rp 200 a cassette, loses around Rp 240 million a year," he said. "We lose more."
99 percent
The Association of Recording Video Importers estimated that 99 percent of video CDs sold in Indonesia were pirated versions of films from Hong Kong, Japan and the United States.
The computer industry watchdog Business Software Alliance said a study by the International Planning and Research Corp. found that about 97 percent of software in Indonesia was pirated, costing the industry US$197.3 million last year.
This means Indonesia has the world's second highest rate of software piracy, after Vietnam.
Bambang Kesowo, chairman of Team Keppres 34, the government- sponsored body set up to protect property rights, said there were no accurate figures on what the total cost of piracy was?
"All of it is just estimates," he said.
But why do people enjoy selling and using pirated goods?
"A lot of people are still ignorant about intellectual property rights because they really do not understand rights and copyrights," Bambang said.
Armel said poor law enforcement contributed to the growth of piracy in Indonesia.
Despite piracy being widespread, Indonesia has the laws to bring pirates to court.
Article 44 of the 1987 Copyright Law states that anyone found guilty of copying intellectual works for business purposes without permission faces a maximum seven years jail and a fine of up to Rp 100 million.
Police have conducted a series of raids, arrested suspects and burnt illegal products but they have not been able to stamp out piracy.
Many say the government and the community has not yet shown the will needed to take decisive action against piracy.
The Indonesian Creative Works Foundation's secretary general, Chandra Darusman, said "it should be begin with intellectuals".
He lamented that many intellectuals, like university students, had committed piracy, particularly by copying software, cassettes and books.
"It's humiliating because intellectuals are ignoring property rights," he said.
But, is it the right time to start clamping down on piracy? Or is it too late?