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)