Yusril blames police and prosecutors for continued IPR piracy
Yusril blames police and prosecutors for continued IPR piracy
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia has a complete set of legal instruments to protect the
holders of intellectual property rights (IPR) from piracy but
police and prosecutors alike lack commitment and the sort of
comprehension of the IPR legislation that is needed to enforce it
properly.
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said
on Monday that continuing piracy in Indonesia was caused by both
lack of commitment to punishing pirates as well as poor knowledge
about the IPR legislation on the part of the police and
prosecutors.
"My ministry has promoted many laws to protect IPR holders
from piracy. I believe our legal system has everything needed to
punish the pirates," said Yusril on the sidelines of a ceremony
to celebrate world IPR day.
In 2000, Indonesia amended a number of laws and enacted new
legislation on IPR, including Law No. 30 on trade secrecy, Law
No. 31 on industrial design, and Law No. 32 on layout and design.
In 2001, the government amended two previous laws to become Law
No. 14 on patents and Law No. 15 on trademarks. In 2002, it
produced Law No. 19 on copyrights.
Yusril added that many IPR violations were left unpunished
either because they were not processed at all by the police and
prosecutors or because the two law enforcement bodies had dropped
the cases somewhere along the way.
"Many cases were not processed while we don't know what
happened to many others which are being investigated by the
police or prosecutors. This is either because they lack
commitment or legal knowledge," said Yusril.
He complained that his ministry could not do anything to solve
the current problems except proposing laws and ensuring that
cases made it to court. The country's legal system stipulates
that the police and prosecution service are the only law
enforcement agencies.
Since its establishment, the commercial court, which still
comes under the supervision of the ministry, has performed well
dealing with IPR violation cases.
The court issued down verdicts on all 11 cases filed in 2001
without delay. Out of 63 cases in 2002, 52 were resolved. In
2000, out of 84 cases, 73 cases were resolved.
Yusril proposed that the next Cabinet should make efforts to
integrate both the law-making and law enforcement processes in
order to help eradicate piracy.
"Coordination on curbing piracy is very important. In the
U.S., the Department of Justice is both law maker and law
enforcer. It can investigate alleged criminals. Our next
government should consider this," said Yusril.
According to data from the ministry, Indonesia incurred a
total of US$259.9 million in losses in 2002 because of piracy.
This total included film industry losses of US$28 million, music
industry losses of $92.3 million, software industry losses of
$109.6 million, and publishing industry losses of $30 million.
During the event to mark IPR day, the ministry presented
awards to three winners for the best industrial designs. Andar
Bagus Sriwarno won first prize with his flexible wooden chair,
followed by Rahmat Junaedi and his colleagues with their
"motorcycle car". In third place was Daim Abdul Choliq with his
hernia pants.