Traditional weaving needs patent registration

Traditional weaving needs patent registration

JAKARTA (JP): Registration of patents for traditionally woven
products is needed to promote the development of small-scale
producers because holding copyrights for their designs,
classified as a public domain, is impossible, said an official.

"Most of the country's provinces have their own traditionally
woven products, which are used in particular for ritual and
traditional ceremonies," the chairperson of the Small Industry
Development Board, Atih Suryati Herman, told reporters yesterday.

Traditionally woven products, which usually have
a length of only up to ten meters a piece, are handmade.

Some designers who focus their works on improving designs of
old tribal weaving have aired their complaints over the absence
of copyrights for such products. Their products which are on sale
at department stores are illegally copied and mass produced.

"That means that art works which have been created drudgingly
are duplicated illegally ignoring designers' rights," designer
Nelwan Anwar told the reporters in a press meeting on a two-week
promotion of traditional weaving.

He was concerned about Indonesians who do not appreciate
creative designs of traditional weaving like Latin American
people do. According to Nelwan, foreigners praise the clothing
design as an exclusive artwork.

Meanwhile, Titi Cacuk Sudarijanto, chairperson of the Mentari
Foundation, said that the foundation, in cooperation with the
Ministry of Industry and the National Handicrafts Council, will
hold the promotion of traditional weaving, which will include an
exhibition and a seminar, at the Borobudur Inter-Continental
hotel and the Grand Duta department store in Jakarta. The seminar
will be held at the hotel on July 27, while the exhibition will
be held at the department store on July 27 through Sept. 10.

Minister of Industry Tunky Ariwibowo and Minister of
Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya are
slated to deliver speeches at the seminar on international market
opportunities for woven products.

Former director general of electricity and energy Artono
Arismunandar, former president of PT Telkom Cacuk Sudarijanto,
weaving collector Koos Arumdanie and designer Carmanita will also
present their papers at the seminar.

A gala show and contest of woven product designs will be held
at the hotel on July 28. (kod)